given to know, I presume, that, when Edwin disappeared, he had a
gold ring in the pocket of his coat. Jasper is thus compelled to
revisit the vault, at night, and there, in the light of his
lantern, he sees the long-lost Edwin, with his hand in the breast
of his great coat.

Horrified by this unexpected appearance, Jasper turns to fly. But
he is confronted by Neville Landless, Crisparkle, Tartar, and
perhaps by Mr. Grewgious, who are all on the watch. He rushes up
through the only outlet, the winding staircase of the Cathedral
tower, of which we know that he has had the key. Neville, who
leads his pursuers, "receives his death wound" (and, I think, is
pitched off the top of the roof). Then Jasper is collared by that
agile climber, Tartar, and by Crisparkle, always in the pink of
condition. There is now something to hang Jasper for--the slaying
of Landless (though, as far as I can see, THAT was done in self-
defence). Jasper confesses all; Tartar marries Rosa; Helena
marries Crisparkle. Edwin is only twenty-one, and may easily find
a consoler of the fair sex: indeed he is "ower young to marry
yet."

The capture of Jasper was fixed, of course, for Christmas Eve. The
phantom cry foreheard by Durdles, two years before, was that of
Neville as he fell; and the dog that howled was Neville's dog, a
character not yet introduced into the romance.


MR. CUMING WALTERS'S THEORY