The arrest of Augustus Wilson and Jesse Powers was a terrible blow to their friends. Mr. Leonard particularly was troubled in mind to think how implicitly he had trusted in this man, how terribly he had been deceived.
The trial of the burglars came on in good time, and the evidence against them proved so strong and conclusive that but one verdict was possible—that of guilty.
With this verdict our story ends, so far as these characters are concerned. Severe sentences, ranging from six to twelve years at solitary imprisonment, were given by the judge, and they sunk from the surface of the living world into the slow death of a prison-cell.
All went well with those without.
Mr. Somers and his regained family were as happy as family could be, and Mr. Leonard was fully forgiven by Jennie for his somewhat selfish course in relation to herself and her lover.
This lover’s attentions were more pressing than ever, and it was not long before a marriage ceremony broke the quiet of the Somers household, and Jennie again changed her name to Elkton.
Will gave up his position in the store to ragged Joe, whom Mr. Leonard accepted at his strong solicitation. He had a better opinion of street boys, too, than he had formerly entertained.
Will proved as energetic a student as he had been in his former avocations, and made immense progress under his tutor, and at the schools which he afterward attended.
His school intercourse, too, brushed off the rudeness of his demeanor and gave his manners a new polish; a result greatly assisted by the example and lessons of his sister, who did her best to make a gentleman of her roughly-trained brother.
Fortunately Will had good sense enough to perceive the value of her advice, and to profit by it. On leaving school he went into the same business in which he had received a partial training under Mr. Leonard, and by his energy and business ability soon made himself independent of his father’s assistance.