"I am a merchant's daughter and doubt if I ought to sympathise," said Mrs. Austin. "To buy at the lowest price the seller will take is a sound business plan. Were you not a business man at Liverpool?"
"At Liverpool nobody I knew made a profit of a hundred per cent," Kit rejoined. "The thing's not honest; besides, one feels it's not sound."
Jefferson laughed. "On the whole, I reckon Musgrave's justified. You can fool people once or twice; you can't fool them all the time. When they find you out, they charge you double or sell to another."
Kit looked at Olivia. She was talking to two or three young men and the position of their chairs would make it awkward for him to join the group. Moreover, he imagined Mrs. Austin had not meant him to do so. By and by he looked at his watch.
"I must go. It's later than I thought, and I've got to stop at the _Carsegarry_."
"You said you were not going to the ball."
"I'm not going to dance. We sail at ten o'clock and I must get Macallister and Don Erminio on board."
"Then I allow you have undertaken something of a job," Jefferson remarked.
"That is so," Kit agreed. "The last time I went for them I got rather damaged and they tore my clothes. Don Erminio's excitable and Macallister is big. All the same, somebody must go. Don Ramon at the office is patient, but I've known him firm. After all, he's accountable, and we carry the Spanish mail."
He went off and Mrs. Austin laughed. "Kit's naïve, but I like him. He's a good sort."
Olivia sent off the young men and stopped for a moment by her sister's chair.
"Kit Musgrave is a very good sort, but his luck is to get a knock-about part."
"One's luck turns," said Jefferson. "If Musgrave gets another part, I reckon he'll play up."
Olivia went into the house and Mrs. Austin said to Jefferson: "If Harry has finished his writing, bring him to me."
When Jefferson went for Austin she knitted her brows. Kit was obviously attracted by Olivia and Mrs. Austin did not approve, although in other ways she meant to be his friend. She had married a poor man, and rousing him to use his talent, had helped him to get rich; but she doubted if Kit had much talent. Moreover, she had qualities Olivia had not, and Kit was not like Harry.