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."