"You look as if you had something on your mind," Jasper.

"You have guessed right. I have read that letter."

He drew from his pocket a letter, which Frank took from his hands.

"It is from an uncle of mine in Ohio, who is proprietor of a weekly
newspaper. He is getting old, and finds the work too much for him. He
offers me a thousand dollars a year if I will come out and relieve him."

"That's a good offer, Jasper. I suppose you will accept it?"

"It is for my interest to do so. Probably my uncle will, after a while,
surrender the whole establishment to me."

"I shall be sorry to part with you, Jasper. It will seem very lonely,
but I think you ought to go. It is a good chance, and if you refuse it
you may not get such another."

"My uncle wants me to come on at once. I think I will start Monday."

Jasper saw no reason to change his determination, and on Monday morning
he started on his journey to Ohio.

Thus, at a critical moment in his fortunes, when two persons were
planning to injure him, he lost the presence and help of a valued
friend.