Frank and Fearless; or, The Fortunes of Jasper Kent. Alger Horatio Jr.

fear.

      "Then here it is. Just sign the book," said the boy.

      Jasper scrawled his name hurriedly and tore open the envelope.

      These were the brief words of the dispatch:

      "Come home, for the Lord's sake, Master Jasper. Your father's dying.

      "Margaret Bower."

      The paper swam before Jasper's eyes.

      "What is it, Jasper—bad news?" asked Wilder; but Jasper did not wait to answer. He rushed to Dr. Benton's office, got his permission to go home, packed his valise, and in five minutes was on his way to the depot.

      He was just in time for the afternoon train. At seven o'clock in the evening he entered the avenue that led to his father's house. Throwing open the front door, he met Margaret in the hall.

      "I'm glad you're here, Master Jasper," said the faithful handmaiden, heartily.

      "Is it too late?"

      "I hope not; indeed, I hope not."

      Jasper waited for no more, but rushed up stairs and into his father's room.

      There were two persons there—the step-mother and a man of thirty, with black whiskers and sallow complexion, with whom she was talking earnestly. They, started when Jasper entered, and looked discouraged. Mrs. Kent looked displeased and annoyed.

      "How is my father?" exclaimed Jasper, excitedly.

      "Hush! He is very low," said Mrs. Kent "You shouldn't have dashed in here so abruptly."

      "Is there no hope for him?" asked the boy, sorrowfully.

      "No, my young friend," said the man, smoothly. "All has been done that human skill can do, but without avail."

      "Are you the doctor?"

      "I am."

      "Where is Dr. Graham, my father's old doctor?"

      "I dismissed him," said his step-mother, "He was not competent to attend so critical a case. This is Dr. Kenyon."

      "I never before heard Dr. Graham's skill doubted," said Jasper. "Is my father conscious?"

      "No; he is under the influence of morphine. Do not wake him up."

      "Was he, then, in great pain?"

      "Yes, in great pain."

      Quietly Jasper drew near the bedside.

      His father lay unconscious, his form rigid, his face thin and betraying marks of weariness and suffering. The tears rose to the eyes of Jasper as he realized that his father was passing away. As he looked on there was a slight convulsive movement; then repose. In that one moment his father had passed on to another world.

      The doctor had approached the bedside also, and he, too, saw the movement.

      "He is dead!" he announced.

      "Dead!" repeated Mrs. Kent, in a voice rather of surprise than of sorrow.

      "Yes."

      "Well," she said, coolly, "we must all die. We have the satisfaction of knowing that we have done all we could do to preserve his life."

      "Certainly, my dear madam; you may comfort yourself by that thought," said the physician.

      "Why did you not send for me before?" asked Jasper, turning with moist eyes to his step-mother, "that I might see my father before he died?"

      "We could not foresee his sudden death," said Mrs. Kent. "How do you happen to be here this afternoon?"

      "Didn't you direct Margaret to telegraph for me?" asked Jasper, surprised.

      "Did Margaret take upon herself to telegraph to you?" asked Mrs. Kent, in a tone of displeasure.

      "Yes," said Jasper, bitterly. "Did you mean to keep me wholly unacquainted with my father's illness?"

      "No; I wrote a line this afternoon, which I should have sent to the office at once."

      "When it was too late!"

      "Your reproaches are unseemly and uncalled for," said his step-mother, quite coldly.

      "I think differently," said Jasper, bitterly. "You should have sent for me as soon as my father got worse than usual."

      "In consideration of your grief I will overlook your impertinence," said Mrs. Kent, compressing her thin lips, as she left the room.

      The doctor followed her out, and Jasper was left alone with the dead.

      He did not realize it, but his father's death was to seriously affect his fortunes.

      CHAPTER IX.

      A DECLARATION OF WAR

      Half an hour later Jasper left the room where his father lay dead. He did not seek the presence of his step-mother, who, he felt, had done him wrong in keeping from him his father's condition. He went instead to the kitchen, where he found Margaret.

      "This is a sad day for you, Master Jasper," said the sympathizing servant.

      "It is, indeed, Margaret. I have lost my best friend."

      "True for you."

      "But for your telegram, I should not have known even now that he was dangerously ill, I thought at first Mrs. Kent asked you to telegraph."

      "No, she didn't. I asked her would she send for you, and she told me it was none of my business."

      "It was lucky you didn't heed her," said Jasper. "She is a cold, unfeeling woman."

      "That she is, Master Jasper," assented Margaret, with emphasis.

      "How long has my father been so sick?"

      "For a week or more, but he took a sudden turn at the last. I think he got worse after the new doctor came."

      "I wanted to ask you about that. Why was Dr. Graham dismissed? He has attended my father for years."

      "Shall I tell you what I think, Master Jasper?" said Margaret, stopping short in her work, and looking mysterious.

      "Yes."

      "Let me whisper it, then. Come nearer, Master Jasper."

      Rather surprised at her manner, Jasper obeyed.

      "It's my belief," she whispered, "that your step-mother didn't want your father to get well."

      Jasper looked horror-struck.

      "Are you crazy, Margaret?" he ejaculated.

      She nodded her head positively.

      "I know what I'm saying," she answered.

      "But what can make you believe such a horrible thing?" he asked.

      She answered in the same low voice:

      "A month ago she got your father to make his will. What there is in it I don't know, but it is likely it suits her. After that she had nothing to gain by his living."

      "You don't think she'd—" Jasper hesitated to proceed.

      "Poison him? No, I don't. It wasn't needful; but your papa was that delicate, it would be enough if he was not rightly treated, and I don't believe this new doctor did the right thing by him. Dr. Graham and Mrs. Kent never could agree, but she and the new doctor have been as thick as can be. They understand one another, I'll be bound."

      Jasper looked shocked, and was silent for a moment.

      "I don't like Mrs. Kent," he said, "but, Margaret, I hope you're wrong in this. That any one could wish my dear, gentle father dead I find it hard to believe."