Mrs. Blake gave him his hat and stopped for a moment at the door.
“Evelyn is fortunate. You are stanch and true as the steel you used,” she said, and kissing Kit, gently pushed him out.
When the train started, Kit, in a third-class smoking compartment, speculated about Mrs. Blake. She was a very good sort and her kiss had braced him. He thought she knew much, and perhaps she knew all. Mabel was not shabby, but she was a woman, and her code was a woman’s code. Her proper part was to stick to her husband and see him out; Kit thought she would not shrink.
Then he mused about Evelyn. Mabel declared she was fortunate but Kit doubted. If Colvin did not take him back, Evelyn would get a nasty knock. All the same, they were young, and Evelyn had known Jasper would probably send him to a Canadian engineering works. Now he might be forced to start for Canada sooner than they had thought, but since Evelyn knew he must go, it was perhaps not important. Kit fixed on Canada because the Carsons went to the Dominion, although he did not think he would take Jasper’s help.
In the meantime, he resolved to say nothing. He did not yet know if Colvin meant to dismiss him. After all, he thought the manager saw it was possible somebody at the boiler shop had given the company’s competitors a useful hint, and Kit reckoned on his making cautious inquiries about the workmen. On the whole, he imagined some days might go before Colvin saw his line, and he might admit that he was baffled. Kit was not hopeful, but there was no use in brooding.
When he arrived at Netherhall the afternoon was hot and Mrs. Carson and the others were on the shady terrace; but for Kit to see Evelyn was not about was some relief.
“You are soon back,” Alan Carson remarked with a friendly smile. “I was afraid the manager might cut short your holiday.”
“I may not get as long as I expected; I don’t know yet,” said Kit, and Mrs. Carson looked up.
Kit’s voice was careless, but she thought carelessness cost him something, and he frowned. Mrs. Carson knew he was not the joyous young fellow who started for the shipyard the evening before, but she must not yet indulge her curiosity. Then Ledward gave Kit an interested glance.
“Well, did you get a fresh important job?”