"Saw Jasper?"
"Yes."
"Was he here? Why did I not see him?" asked Mr. Kent, in surprise.
"It was not here that I saw him—it was at his school."
"At his school! How came you to go there?" inquired her husband in still greater surprise.
"I will tell you, though I have hitherto kept it a secret, as a matter of my own. Now, since I am your wife, it is only proper that I should acquaint you with it. I have a nephew at the same school."
"You have a nephew at Dr. Benton's boarding-school?"
"Yes," answered Mrs. Kent, lowering her voice to a compassionate inflection. "Poor boy! he has neither father nor mother! He is entirely dependent upon me. Out of my salary I have paid his expenses ever since I entered your employ."
"That was generous and kind of you," said her husband, approvingly. "What is the boy's name?"
"Nicholas Thorne."