"I want you to be in the kitchen, provided with your whip, when breakfast is over."
"What for?" asked Tom, in surprise.
"Never mind now. I shall inform you at the time."
"All right, ma'am."
Twenty minutes later, Jasper, unaware of his step-mother's benevolent intentions, took his seat at the breakfast-table.
MRS. KENT IS FOILED.
Breakfast was a quiet meal. Mrs. Kent preserved a frigid silence toward Jasper, interrupted only by necessary questions. Nicholas, who understood that there was a row in prospect, occasionally smiled as he looked across the table at Jasper, but he, too, was silent.
When breakfast was over, and the three arose from the table, Mrs. Kent said, in a cold voice:
"Jasper Kent, I have something to say to you."