Read Ebook: Carson of Red River by Bindloss Harold

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Ebook has 54 lines and 4684 words, and 2 pages

he sum. The important thing is, it's all you will get."

Ledward tried to brace up. The wedding present and increased pay was not all he had thought to get; but he admitted his employer was just.

"I am content, sir."

"Very well. I don't know if Evelyn will be as philosophical, but that's another thing. Before very long I shall be forced to stop, and you are not my heir. For all that, my successor will need you, and I will stipulate for you to keep your post."

For a few moments Ledward was quiet. He had perhaps been justified in thinking himself Jasper's heir. At all events, Mrs. Haigh had reckoned on his inheriting, and he imagined she and Evelyn would get a nasty jolt.

All the same, he had some money; Jasper's wedding present was a useful sum, and his pay was good. For himself he was not remarkably ambitious, and he had taken the post because he wanted to marry Evelyn. He knew her calculating selfishness, and perhaps it was strange, but he was not much daunted. Evelyn was not a fool, and by and by he thought she would see she had not much grounds for discontent.

"I expect you know, I'm rather disappointed, but I must not grumble," he said. "When I joined you I was a fastidious loafer and was getting slack. You gave me an occupation I was soon keen about and made it possible for me to marry the girl I want. I owe you much, sir, and on the whole I think I'm fortunate. Anyhow, so long as you feel my help is useful, it is yours."

"Your judgment is sound and I like your pluck," Jasper remarked. "However, I get tired, and I expect your aunt will be interested."

Ledward agreed, and finding Mrs. Carson had gone to Mrs. Haigh's, he followed her to the house. Although he thought he could picture Mrs. Haigh's emotions, he was rather disturbed than sympathetic. When he arrived tea was served, and Mrs. Haigh handed him a cup.

"Jasper has given me a wedding present," he said, and put the check on the table.

"He is extremely generous," Mrs. Carson remarked with keen surprise; but when Mrs. Haigh noted the sum her color got high and she set her thin mouth.

"He declares he is not," said Ledward. "You see, he says it's all I shall get."

Mrs. Haigh's hand shook, and she put down the teapot.

"Ah!" she said, "since the evening Kit arrived I think I expected something like that."

Ledward saw the knock was hard, but he knew her nerve was good, and he was moved to grim humor. Although Mrs. Haigh had lost the prize for which she planned, he thought she would not refuse the second best.

"I think your relation did plot," Mrs. Haigh agreed, with an effort for calm. "Harry, however, has not yet told us very much."

Ledward began to narrate his interview with Jasper. After a few moments Evelyn came in, but he did not stop. Evelyn ought to know, and he did not want to talk about the thing again. She rested her arm on the table and her color came and went. All were very quiet, and Ledward felt his voice jarred. When he stopped Mrs. Carson's look got very hard.

"Kit has conquered!" she remarked. "He gets all, and he will soon be your employer."

"Oh, well," said Ledward, "I think Kit's part was an unconscious part, and he's not revengeful. Jasper promises that I shall keep my post."

Mrs. Haigh went with her to the gate, and Evelyn gave Ledward an embarrassed glance. Jasper had used her and Harry, and she was humiliated because she thought Harry knew. All the same, Harry would not admit it. His part was obvious, and she expected he would play up.

She pictured Kit's romantic charm; sometimes Kit had moved her strongly, but Harry did not. She had weighed Harry's advantages, and her mother's arguments had tipped the beam. For the most part, his advantages had vanished, but she could not call back Kit.

"I'm sorry," said Ledward; "I expect your disappointment's keen. Some of our plans for the future must go, but after all we really shall not be forced to be very economical."

Evelyn blushed and gave him a queer smile. "That is something! Since you're frank, I admit I hate to be frugal, but it looks as if Jasper did not altogether cheat you, and I suppose we must be content. Well, we won't talk about it. Do you want some tea?"

Ledward said he did not. He thought Evelyn's inquiry typical, and they went to the garden.

In the morning Kit, at Whinnyates, gave Alison a note in which Jasper stated that if the afternoon were fine he would try to reach the Netherdale inn.

"You agreed to meet me, and although, I doubt if you were very willing, your word goes," Jasper wrote. "Then I would like you to bring Miss Forsyth. Perhaps I am not entitled to ask this favor, but I cannot get to the farm, and I hope she will indulge me."

"Perhaps I ought to go," said Alison. "I feel he's kind."

"He's a queer old fellow. For long I thought he didn't mean to bother about me, but I begin to doubt. I certainly did not try to win him over."

"I will go," said Alison in a thoughtful voice.

In the afternoon they crossed the moors. When they reached Netherdale a man pushed a wheeled chair along the road. A thick larch wood rolled down the hill and the sun was on the fresh green foliage and a high mossy bank. Jasper ordered the man to stop by a large beech trunk.

"Take a smoke and wait until I call," he said, and when the servant went off turned to Alison.

"You know who I am, and we won't bother Kit to present me. I did not invite you to Netherhall because the house is not mine, and I dare say you know my nephew's independence. Then since the spot is quiet and sunny, there is not much use in going on to the inn. You see, I soon get tired."

Alison saw he gave her ceremonious politeness, but his look was kind, and she smiled.

"Kit is independent, but sometimes independence like his is justified."

"It's possible," Jasper agreed. "Your championing Kit is natural, because I believe you are going to marry him very soon."

"I wonder whether you think I ought," said Alison quietly, and motioned Kit to wait.

"You are frank, but I like your frankness," Jasper replied. "Well, your lover is my nephew, and I know something about you. You spring from old yeoman stock and I think its virtues are yours. Our fortunes are recent and the founder of our house was a blacksmith. However, I want to talk to Kit, and I hope to have your support."

He indicated the smooth trunk and turned to Kit. "I imagine you feel you do not owe me much?"

"Perhaps I did feel something of the sort, but now I don't know. All the same, I'm puzzled. You found out Blake sold the boiler drawings. Yet you said nothing!"

"My reserve was calculated. From the beginning I had plans for you. Then I felt the money I used, which might be yours, was not altogether mine. Some I inherited, but all was got by sweat of brain and muscle at office and forge; I was resolved our fortune must not be squandered in social ambitions and extravagance. It must be used to forge steel, to build ships and bridges and rolling mills. Our business is to hammer iron and I felt I'd sooner see my nephew labor with a navvy's shovel than loaf about town."

"I think Alison sees," said Jasper, and gave her a smile. "When a man marries he is not altogether a free agent; much depends on his wife and something on her relations. Well, I expect you will find Mrs. Carson's point of view is mine, Kit, and in the meantime we'll let it go. I wanted you to try your powers, to face obstacles, and get control and balance. In fact, I wanted to learn if you could go alone."

"I begin to understand, sir. You tried me out?"

"Yes; I experimented. I felt I was trustee for my fortune and the business the others had built, and when I was forced to quit I wanted a man all could trust to carry on my job. Now I am satisfied, and I offer you the post!"

Kit said nothing, but the blood came to his skin. He admitted he had not known Jasper, and his dulness humiliated him.

"You ought to agree, Kit. The job is yours," said Alison in a quiet voice.

"Thank you, my dear," said Jasper. "I reckoned on your support. Well, Kit?"

"I'm embarrassed, sir, and half ashamed. At the shipyard I thought you might some time help me get a post; but that was all, and when the company turned me down I resolved I wouldn't bother you. Since I'd got entangled, I myself must break the entanglement. Now I hesitate. I'm young, I don't know if I've yet got my proper balance, and the job's important. Then I undertook to build the tanks for the Canadian company, and I must make good."

"That is so," said Jasper. "When you have carried out your undertaking, will you come back and talk about my plan again?"

"Yes, sir," Kit replied quietly.

"It's all I want; you must do what you agreed to do," said Jasper. "Well, I doubt if I can get to your wedding; but perhaps Alison and you will meet me another time before you start?"

He turned and gave Alison a gentle look. "I expect you know your lover. Kit is good stuff, and now he will go soberly I feel you and he will go far. I soon must stop, but you have youth and hope. Your road runs on across the horizon; perhaps to a better country than we old folks know."

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