HOW IT ALL ENDED.
Jasper did not reach home till after the funeral had taken place and his
step-mother was buried. Though he had little reason to like her, he was
shocked and distressed by her sad and untimely fate.
"How could the house catch fire, Mr. Miller?" he asked.
"It is supposed to have been set on fire."
"Who would do it?"
"From what Nicholas tells me I suspect that the fire was the work of
Mrs. Kent's brother."
"Her brother!" exclaimed Jasper. "I met him in the West."
"Then you probably know that he was not a very respectable character."
"I know that he was concerned in kidnapping a child."
"Nicholas tells me that he had just got out of prison, and applied to
Mrs. Kent for help, which she refused. Incensed at this, he probably set
the house on fire."
"I think he would be capable of doing it. Has he been arrested?"
"Not yet, but the police are on his track. I don't think he can escape."
"Nicholas doesn't seem to take his mother's death very hard."
"No. I am disgusted with his selfishness. He seems to be principally
concerned about property which she leaves."
"I suppose he will inherit it."
"Yes. I don't know in what state it is, but it ought to amount to thirty
thousand dollars. It is a large slice of your father's fortune."
"I do not begrudge it to him. I shall have enough."
"That reminds me that it is time to open the instrument which your
father left with me."
The paper was opened then and there, and proved to contain the following
direction: That in case Jasper and his step-mother did not get along
harmoniously, his old friend, Mr. Miller, was empowered and requested to
assume the guardianship of Jasper.
"That arrangement suits me precisely," said Jasper, warmly. "Will you
accept the trust?"
"Cheerfully," said his friend. "I don't think there is any danger of our
disagreeing."
Jasper shook his head.
"If there should be any disagreement it would be my fault," he said.
"But won't Nicholas need a guardian?"
"Yes; one will have to be appointed."
"I suppose his uncle would be willing to take the post."
"His uncle, if found, will hardly be in a position to act in that
capacity."
Dick was not found. He disappeared, and from that day was not seen in
the neighborhood. It is supposed that he went West and found a secure
concealment in some of the distant territories, where probably he is
engaged in the same discreditable courses for which he was already
notorious.
As was anticipated, Nicholas inherited about thirty thousand dollars. He
selected as his guardian the young physician whom his mother had
employed in her husband's last sickness. But the man proved faithless to
his trust, and ran away with the entire fortune of his ward, leaving him
absolutely penniless. In this emergency Nicholas, humbled and mortified,
appealed to Jasper to help him.
With his guardian's permission, Jasper agreed, during his good behavior,
to pay for his use an annual sum of five hundred dollars, urging him to
continue at school. But this did not suit Nicholas. He obtained a place
in New York, where he soon developed fast tendencies, and ended by
running away with a considerable sum of money belonging to his employer.
It was believed that he went to California. His employer took no steps
to apprehend him, Jasper having agreed to make up to him the sum--nine
hundred dollars--which Nicholas had appropriated. For him it was a
saving, since by his conduct Nicholas had forfeited the annual provision
he had agreed to make for him.
And what became of Jasper? By his guardian's advice he went to school
for two years more. Then he returned to St. Louis, and again entered the
employment of Mr. Fitch.
At twenty-one, with a portion of his property, he bought an interest in
the business and became junior partner, and is now one of the most
respected and enterprising young business men in that flourishing city.
He was recently united in marriage to a charming young lady, the
daughter of a prosperous Western merchant, and so his prospects seem as
bright as could well be hoped for.
The trials of his early life are safely passed.
By his honesty, courage and generosity he has fairly earned the
happiness which he enjoys. Nor has he forgotten Nancy and the Indian
maiden who rendered him so essential a service at a critical point in
his fortunes. Every year he sends them a handsome present, choosing the
articles which are best suited to gratify their tastes.
Monima cherishes a romantic attachment for her benefactor, and will not
soon forget the "white boy," whose picture she carries with her in all
her wanderings.
THE RENOWNED STANDARD JUVENILES
BY EDWARD S. ELLIS
Edward S. Ellis is regarded as the latter day Cooper. His books will
always be read for the accurate pen pictures of pioneer life they portray.
LIST OF TITLES
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Hunters of the Ozark.
The Last War Trail.
Camp in the Mountains.
Log Cabin Series
Lost Trail.
Footprints in the Forest.
Camp Fire and Wigwam.
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Ned in the Block-House.
Ned on the River.
Ned in the Woods.
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Two Boys in Wyoming.
Cowmen and Rustlers.
A Strange Craft and its Wonderful Voyage.
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Shod with Silence.
In the Days of the Pioneers.
Phantom of the River.
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Red Eagle.
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Iron Heart, War Chief of the Iroquois.
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Alden Among the Indians.
True Grit Series
Jim and Joe.
Dorsey, the Young Inventor.
Secret of Coffin Island.
Great American Series
Teddy and Towser; or, Early Days in California.
Up the Forked River.
Colonial Series
An American King.
The Cromwell of Virginia.
The Last Emperor of the Old Dominion.
Foreign Adventure Series
Lost in the Forbidden Land.
River and Jungle.
The Hunt of the White Elephant.
Paddle Your Own Canoe Series
The Forest Messengers.
The Mountain Star.
Queen of the Clouds.
Arizona Series
Off the Reservation; or, Caught in an Apache Raid.
Trailing Geronimo; or, Campaigning with Cook.
The Round-Up; or, Geronimo's Last Raid.
The Catamount Camp Series
Captain of the Camp.
Catamount Camp.
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