He might only have forgotten to do so—Chips had a high conception of honour in such matters—but anything to throw light on the mystery before it was too late!
"Now, you and Rutter have been great friends, haven't you, Carpenter?"
It was the skilful questioner proceeding on his own repugnant lines.
"Yes, sir, I think we have, on the whole."
"Has he ever borrowed money from you before?"
"Never a penny, sir."
"Had he rather strong principles on the point?"
"I used to think he had, sir."
"Do you think he'd break them for his own sake, Carpenter?"
"No, sir, I don't! I—I practically told him so," replied Chips, after considering whether he was free to say as much.
"I've only one other question to ask you, Carpenter. You told me, before I let you go up, that several of the leading fellows know something about what's happened."
"They do, sir."
"Can you think of anybody who doesn't know, and perhaps ought to know, while there's time?"
Chips felt his heart leap within him, only to sink under the weight of his last promise to Jan; he shrank from the very mention of Evan's name after such a solemn undertaking as that. And yet Jan came first.
"Well, sir, I—could."
"Then won't you?"
"If you wouldn't ask me for my reasons, sir."
Heriot smiled in incipient inquisitorial triumph. It was a wry smile over a wry job, but he had come to his feet, and his spectacles were flashing formidably. The poor lad's honest reservation was more eloquent than
