Mr. Proctor next supposes that Datchery and others, by aid of the opium
hag, have found out a great deal of evidence against Jasper. They have
discovered from the old woman that his crime was long premeditated: he
had threatened “Ned” in his opiated dreams: and had clearly removed
Edwin’s trinkets and watch, because they would not be destroyed, with his
body, by the quicklime. This is all very well, but there is still, so
far, no legal evidence, on my theory, that Jasper attempted to take
Edwin’s life. Jasper’s enemies, therefore, can only do their best to
make his life a burden to him, and to give him a good fright, probably
with the hope of terrifying him into avowals.
Now the famous ring begins “to drag and hold” the murderer. He is given
to know, I presume, that, when Edwin disappeared, he had a gold ring in
the pocket of his coat. Jasper is thus compelled to revisit the vault,
at night, and there, in the light of his lantern, he sees the long-lost
Edwin, with his hand in the breast of his great coat.
Horrified by this unexpected appearance, Jasper turns to fly. But he is
confronted by Neville Landless, Crisparkle, Tartar, and perhaps by Mr.
Grewgious, who are all on the watch. He rushes up through the only
outlet, the winding staircase of the Cathedral tower, of which we know
that he has had the key. Neville, who leads his pursuers, “receives his
death wound” (and, I think, is pitched off the top of the roof). Then
Jasper is collared by that agile climber, Tartar, and by Crisparkle,
always in the pink of condition. There is now something to hang Jasper
for—the slaying of Landless (though, as far as I can see, _that_ was done
in self-defence). Jasper confesses all; Tartar marries Rosa; Helena
marries Crisparkle. Edwin is only twenty-one, and may easily find a
consoler of the fair sex: indeed he is “ower young to marry yet.”
The capture of Jasper was fixed, of course, for Christmas Eve. The
phantom cry foreheard by Durdles, two years before, was that of Neville
as he fell; and the dog that howled was Neville’s dog, a character not
yet introduced into the romance.