Chapter IV: Jasper Shows His Teeth

That night a fearful tempest howled over Cloisterham. In the morning early, as the storm was breaking, Jasper, the choir master, came pale, panting and half-dressed, to Mr. Crisparkle's, asking for Edwin Drood. He said his nephew had left his rooms the evening before with Neville Landless to go to the river to look at the storm, and had not returned.

Strange rumors sprang up at once. Neville had left for his walking tour and an ugly suspicion flew from house to house. He had got only a few miles from the town when he was overtaken by a party of men, who surrounded him. Thinking at first that they were thieves, he fought them, but was soon rendered helpless and bleeding, and in the midst of them was taken back toward Cloisterham. Mr. Crisparkle and Jasper met them on the way, and from the former Neville first learned of what he was suspected.

The blood from his encounter with his captors was on his clothes and stick. Jasper pointed it out, and even those who had seen it fall there looked darkly at the stains. He was taken back to the town and to Mr. Crisparkle's house, who promised that he should remain in his own custody.

Neville's story was simple. He said they had gone to the river, as Jasper had said, and returned together, he to Mr. Crisparkle's, Edwin Drood to his uncle's. He had not seen the other since that time.

The river was dragged and its banks searched, but to no purpose, till Mr. Crisparkle himself found Drood's watch caught among some timbers in a weir.

But as the body could not be found, it could not be definitely proven that Drood was dead, or that any murder had been committed, so at last Neville was released. The whole neighborhood, however, believed him guilty of the murder. No one spoke to him and he was obliged to quit the place.

Beside his sister Helena and Rosebud, who, of course, believed in his innocence, he had but one friend there--Mr. Crisparkle. The latter stoutly refused to believe him guilty. When Neville left for London, through Mr. Grewgious, Rosebud's guardian, the minister found him a cheap lodging and made frequent trips to the city to help and advise him in his studies.

Mr. Grewgious had his own opinion of the affair. One day he went to Cloisterham to see Jasper, and there told him a thing the other did not yet know--that before that last night Edwin Drood and Rosebud had agreed not to marry. When he heard this the choir master's face turned the color of lead. He shrieked and fell senseless at the lawyer's feet. Mr. Grewgious went back to the city more thoughtful than ever, and it was not long before a detective came from London to Cloisterham and began to interest himself in all the doings of John Jasper.

The detective, to be sure, was not known as such. He called himself "Dick Datchery" and gave it out that he was an idle dog who lived on his money and had nothing to do. He was a curious-looking man, with a great shock of white hair, black eyebrows and a military air. He rented lodgings next door to the choir master, and before long had made friends with Durdles, the tombstone maker, and even with The Deputy of the "wake-cock warning."

Meanwhile Jasper, haggard and red-eyed, took again his place in the cathedral choir, while Neville Landless worked sadly and alone in his London garret. The latter made but one friend in this time--a lodger whose window adjoined his own. This lodger was Lieutenant Tartar, a retired young naval officer. Tartar might have lived in fine apartments, for he was rich, but he had been so long on shipboard that he felt more at home where the walls were low enough for him to knock his head on the ceiling. He used to climb across to Neville's room by the window ledges, and they became friendly--the warmer friends when Mr. Crisparkle discovered in the lieutenant a schoolmate who had once saved his life.

Later, too, Helena left Miss Twinkleton's Seminary and came to be with her brother. And so a year went by.

Vacation arrived, and one day when Rosebud was alone at Nun's House, Jasper, for the first time since Edwin Drood's disappearance, came to see her.

He found her in the garden, and she felt again the repulsion and fear she had always felt at sight of him. This time the choir master threw away all concealment. He told her that he had always loved her hopelessly and madly, though while she was betrothed to his nephew he had hidden the fact. She answered indignantly that, by look if not by word, he had always been false to Edwin Drood; that he had made her life unhappy by his pursuit of her, and that, though she had shrunk from opening his nephew's eyes, she had always known he was a wicked man.

Then, maddened by her dislike, Jasper swore that no one else should ever marry her--that he would pursue her to the death, and that if she repulsed him he would bring dreadful ruin upon Neville Landless. He said this, no doubt, knowing that Neville loved Rosebud, and thinking, perhaps, that she loved him in return.

When Jasper left her, Rosebud was faint from fear of his wicked eyes. She made up her mind to go at once for protection to Mr. Grewgious in London, and, leaving a note for Miss Twinkleton, she left by the next omnibus.

She told her guardian her story, he told it to Mr. Crisparkle, who came to London next morning, and between them they told Lieutenant Tartar. While Rosebud visited with Helena the three men took counsel together, agreeing that Jasper was a villain and planning how best to deal with him.

The next time the choir master visited the opium garret the old woman tracked him back to Cloisterham, with more success--with such success, indeed, that she heard him sing in the cathedral and found out his name from a stranger whom she encountered. This stranger was Dick Datchery, the detective, who discovered so much, before he left her, of Jasper's London habits that he went home in high good humor.

Datchery had a trick, whenever he was following a particular search, of marking each step of his progress by a chalk mark on a wall or door. To-day he must have been highly pleased, for he drew a thick line from the very top of the cupboard door to the bottom!

* * * * *

_When Charles Dickens, the master story-teller, had told this tale thus far, he fell ill and died, and it was never finished. The mystery of the disappearance of Edwin Drood, what became of Rosebud and of Mr. Crisparkle, how Neville and Helena fared and what was the end of Jasper, are matters for each one of us to guess. Many have tried to finish this story and they have ended it in various ways. Before Dickens died, however, he told to a friend the part of the story that remained unwritten, and this, the friend has recorded, was to be as follows_:

By means of the old woman of the opium den, Durdles, the tombstone maker, and The Deputy, the ragged stone-thrower, Dick Datchery unraveled the threads which finally, made into a net, caught Jasper, the murderer, in its meshes. Little by little, word by word, he was made at last to betray himself.

He had killed Edwin Drood, had hidden his body in one of the vaults and covered it with lime. But there had been one thing in the dead man's pocket which the lime could not destroy: this was the ring set with diamonds and rubies, that had been given to him by Mr. Grewgious. By this the murder was proven. Mr. Crisparkle and Mr. Grewgious worked hard to clear Neville Landless (of whose guilt, by the way, Mr. Honeythunder remained always sure), but poor Neville himself perished in aiding Lieutenant Tartar to seize the murderer.

Finding all hope of escape gone, Jasper confessed his crime in the cell in which he waited for death.

But, after all, the story closed happily, with the marriage of Mr. Crisparkle to Neville's sister Helena, and that of Lieutenant Tartar to pretty little Rosebud.

INDEX TO CHARACTERS

AFFERY _Little Dorrit_

AGNES _David Copperfield_

ALLEN, ARABELLA _Pickwick Papers_

ALLEN, BEN _Pickwick Papers_

"ARTFUL DODGER, THE" _Oliver Twist_

BAGSTOCK, MAJOR _Dombey and Son_

BANTAM, ANGELO CYRUS _Pickwick Papers_

BARDELL, MRS. _Pickwick Papers_

BARKIS _David Copperfield_

BARNABY RUDGE _Barnaby Rudge_

BARNACLE, MR. TITE _Little Dorrit_

BARSAD _Tale of Two Cities_

BEVAN _Martin Chuzzlewit_

BIDDY _Great Expectations_

BLACKPOOL, STEPHEN _Hard Times_

BLIMBER, DOCTOR _Dombey and Son_

BOFFIN, MR. _Our Mutual Friend_

BOFFIN, MRS. _Our Mutual Friend_

BOUNDERBY, JOSIAH _Hard Times_

BOYTHORN, MR. _Bleak House_

BRASS _Old Curiosity Shop_

BRASS, SALLY _Old Curiosity Shop_

BRAY _Nicholas Nickleby_

BRAY, MADELINE _Nicholas Nickleby_

BROWNLOW, MR. _Oliver Twist_

BUD, ROSA _Edwin Drood_

BUDGER, MRS. _Pickwick Papers_

BUMBLE, MR. _Oliver Twist_

BUMBLE, MRS. _Oliver Twist_

BUZFUZ, SERGEANT _Pickwick Papers_

CARKER _Dombey and Son_

CARSTONE, RICHARD _Bleak House_

CARTON, SYDNEY _Tale of Two Cities_

CHEERYBLE BROTHERS, THE _Nicholas Nickleby_

CHESTER, EDWARD _Barnaby Rudge_

CHESTER, SIR JOHN _Barnaby Rudge_

CHIVERY, JOHN _Little Dorrit_

CHUFFEY _Martin Chuzzlewit_

CHUZZLEWIT _Martin Chuzzlewit_

CHUZZLEWIT, MARTIN _Martin Chuzzlewit_

CLARE, ADA _Bleak House_

CLENNAM, ARTHUR _Little Dorrit_

CLENNAM, MR. _Little Dorrit_

CLENNAM, MRS. _Little Dorrit_

COMPEYSON _Great Expectations_

COPPERFIELD, DAVID _David Copperfield_

CREAKLE, MR. _David Copperfield_

CRISPARKLE, REVEREND MR. _Edwin Drood_

CRUMMLES, MRS. _Nicholas Nickleby_

CRUMMLES, NINETTA _Nicholas Nickleby_

CRUMMLES, VINCENT _Nicholas Nickleby_

CUTTLE, CAPTAIN _Dombey and Son_

DARNAY, CHARLES _Tale of Two Cities_

DATCHERY, DICK _Edwin Drood_

DEDLOCK, LADY _Bleak House_

DEDLOCK, SIR LEICESTER _Bleak House_

DEFARGE _Tale of Two Cities_

DEFARGE, MADAME _Tale of Two Cities_

DENNIS _Barnaby Rudge_

"DEPUTY, THE" _Edwin Drood_

"DICK, MR." _David Copperfield_

"DIOGENES" _Dombey and Son_

"DODGER, THE ARTFUL" _Oliver Twist_

DOMBEY, FLORENCE _Dombey and Son_

DOMBEY, MR. _Dombey and Son_

DOMBEY, PAUL _Dombey and Son_

DORRIT, AMY _Little Dorrit_

DORRIT, FANNY _Little Dorrit_

"DORRIT, LITTLE" _Little Dorrit_

DORRIT, MR. _Little Dorrit_

DORRIT, "TIP" _Little Dorrit_

DOWLER, MR. _Pickwick Papers_

DOWLER, MRS. _Pickwick Papers_

DOYCE _Little Dorrit_

DROOD, EDWIN _Edwin Drood_

DURDLES _Edwin Drood_

"EM'LY, LITTLE" _David Copperfield_

ESTELLA _Great Expectations_

FAGIN _Oliver Twist_

"FAT BOY, THE" _Pickwick Papers_

"FATHER OF THE MARSHALSEA, THE" _Little Dorrit_

"FITZ-MARSHALL, MR." _Pickwick Papers_

"FITZ-MARSHALL, CAPTAIN" _Pickwick Papers_

FLINTWINCH _Little Dorrit_

FLITE, MISS _Bleak House_

"FLOY" _Dombey and Son_

GABELLE _Tale of Two Cities_

GAMP, "SAIREY" _Martin Chuzzlewit_

GARGERY, JOE _Great Expectations_

GARGERY, MRS. _Great Expectations_

GASHFORD _Barnaby Rudge_

GAY, WALTER _Dombey and Son_

GENERAL, MRS. _Little Dorrit_

"GEORGE, MR." _Bleak House_

"GOLDEN DUSTMAN, THE" _Our Mutual Friend_

GORDON, LORD GEORGE _Barnaby Rudge_

GILLS, SOLOMON _Dombey and Son_

GRADGRIND, LOUISA _Hard Times_

GRADGRIND, MR. _Hard Times_

GRADGRIND, MRS. _Hard Times_

GRADGRIND, TOM _Hard Times_

GRAHAM, MARY _Martin Chuzzlewit_

GRANDFATHER SMALLWEED _Bleak House_

GRANGER, EDITH _Dombey and Son_

GREWGIOUS, MR. _Edwin Drood_

GRIDE _Nicholas Nickleby_

"GRIP" _Barnaby Rudge_

GUMMIDGE, MRS. _David Copperfield_

HAM _David Copperfield_

HAREDALE, EMMA _Barnaby Rudge_

HAREDALE, GEOFFREY _Barnaby Rudge_

HARMON, JOHN _Our Mutual Friend_

HARMON, MR. _Our Mutual Friend_

"HARRIS, MRS." _Martin Chuzzlewit_

HARTHOUSE, JAMES _Hard Times_

HAVISHAM, MISS _Great Expectations_

HAWDON, CAPTAIN _Bleak House_

HAWK, SIR MULBERRY _Nicholas Nickleby_

HEADSTONE _Our Mutual Friend_

HEEP, URIAH _David Copperfield_

HEXAM _Our Mutual Friend_

HEXAM, CHARLIE _Our Mutual Friend_

HEXAM, LIZZIE _Our Mutual Friend_

HONEYTHUNDER, LUKE _Edwin Drood_

HORTENSE _Bleak House_

"HUGH, MAYPOLE" _Barnaby Rudge_

HUNTER, MRS. LEO _Pickwick Papers_

"INFANT PHENOMENON, THE" _Nicholas Nickleby_

JAGGERS, MR. _Great Expectations_

JARLEY, MRS. _Old Curiosity Shop_

JARNDYCE, MR. _Bleak House_

JASPER, JOHN _Edwin Drood_

JELLYBY, CADDY _Bleak House_

JELLYBY, MRS. _Bleak House_

"JENNY WREN" _Our Mutual Friend_

JINGLE, ALFRED _Pickwick Papers_

JOE _Pickwick Papers_

JOE _Bleak House_

"JOE, MRS." _Great Expectations_

JONAS _Martin Chuzzlewit_

JUPE, CECELIA _Hard Times_

"JUPE, SIGNOR" _Hard Times_

"KIT" _Old Curiosity Shop_

KNAG, MISS _Nicholas Nickleby_

KROOK _Bleak House_

"LADY JANE" _Bleak House_

LANDLESS, HELENA _Edwin Drood_

LANDLESS, NEVILLE _Edwin Drood_

"LITTLE EM'LY" _David Copperfield_

"LITTLE NELL" _Old Curiosity Shop_

"LITTLE PAUL" _Dombey and Son_

LORRY, MR. _Tale of Two Cities_

MAGGIE _Little Dorrit_

MAGNUS, MR. PETER _Pickwick Papers_

MAGWITCH, ABEL _Great Expectations_

MANETTE, DOCTOR _Tale of Two Cities_

MANETTE, LUCIE _Tale of Two Cities_

MANTALINI, MR. _Nicholas Nickleby_

MANTALINI, MADAME _Nicholas Nickleby_

MARY _Pickwick Papers_

MAYLIE, MRS. _Oliver Twist_

"MAYPOLE HUGH" _Barnaby Rudge_

M'CHOAKUMCHILD, MR. _Hard Times_

MEAGLES, MR. _Little Dorrit_

MEAGLES, MRS. _Little Dorrit_

MEAGLES, "PET" _Little Dorrit_

MERDLE, MR. _Little Dorrit_

MERDLE, MRS. _Little Dorrit_

"MERRYLEGS" _Hard Times_

MICAWBER, MR. _David Copperfield_

MONKS _Oliver Twist_

MONTAGUE, TIGG _Martin Chuzzlewit_

MURDSTONE, MISS _David Copperfield_

MURDSTONE, MR. _David Copperfield_

NADGETT _Martin Chuzzlewit_

NANCY _Oliver Twist_

"NELL, LITTLE" _Old Curiosity Shop_

"NEMO" _Bleak House_

NICKLEBY, KATE _Nicholas Nickleby_

NICKLEBY, MRS. _Nicholas Nickleby_

NICKLEBY, NICHOLAS _Nicholas Nickleby_

NICKLEBY, RALPH _Nicholas Nickleby_

NOGGS _Nicholas Nickleby_

NUBBLES, CHRISTOPHER _Old Curiosity Shop_

NUPKINS _Pickwick Papers_

NUPKINS, MISS _Pickwick Papers_

NUPKINS, MRS. _Pickwick Papers_

"OLD SOL" _Dombey and Son_

ORLICK _Great Expectations_

PANCKS _Little Dorrit_

"PAUL, LITTLE" _Dombey and Son_

PECKSNIFF _Martin Chuzzlewit_

PECKSNIFF, CHARITY _Martin Chuzzlewit_

PECKSNIFF, MERCY _Martin Chuzzlewit_

PEGGOTTY _David Copperfield_

PEGGOTTY, MR. _David Copperfield_

"PEGLER, MRS." _Hard Times_

PICKWICK, MR. SAMUEL _Pickwick Papers_

PINCH, TOM _Martin Chuzzlewit_

PINCH, RUTH _Martin Chuzzlewit_

"PIP" _Great Expectations_

PIPCHIN, MRS. _Dombey and Son_

PIRRIP, PHILIP _Great Expectations_

POCKET, HERBERT _Great Expectations_

POCKET, MR. _Great Expectations_

POCKET, MRS. _Great Expectations_

PROSS, MISS _Tale of Two Cities_

PUMBLECHOOK, UNCLE _Great Expectations_

QUILP _Old Curiosity Shop_

QUILP, MRS. _Old Curiosity Shop_

RACHEL _Hard Times_

RIGAUD _Little Dorrit_

RIDERHOOD, "ROGUE" _Our Mutual Friend_

"ROKESMITH," JOHN _Our Mutual Friend_

"ROSEBUD" _Edwin Drood_

ROSE, MISS _Oliver Twist_

ROUNCEWELL, MRS. _Bleak House_

RUDGE _Barnaby Rudge_

RUDGE, BARNABY _Barnaby Rudge_

RUDGE, MRS. _Barnaby Rudge_

ST. EVRÉMONDE, CHARLES _Tale of Two Cities_

ST. EVRÉMONDE, MARQUIS DE _Tale of Two Cities_

SAWYER, BOB _Pickwick Papers_

SIKES, BILL _Oliver Twist_

"SISSY" _Hard Times_

SKIMPOLE, HAROLD _Bleak House_

SLAMMER, DOCTOR _Pickwick Papers_

SLEARY _Hard Times_

SMALLWEED, GRANDFATHER _Bleak House_

SMALLWEED, MRS. _Bleak House_

SMIKE _Nicholas Nickleby_

SNODGRASS _Pickwick Papers_

"SOL, OLD" _Dombey and Son_

SPARSIT, MRS. _Hard Times_

SPENLOW, DORA _David Copperfield_

SQUEERS _Nicholas Nickleby_

SQUEERS, FANNY _Nicholas Nickleby_

SQUEERS, MRS. _Nicholas Nickleby_

SQUEERS, WACKFORD _Nicholas Nickleby_

STEERFORTH, JAMES _David Copperfield_

"STRANGER, THE" _Old Curiosity Shop_

STRONG, DOCTOR _David Copperfield_

SUMMERSON, ESTHER _Bleak House_

SWIVELLER, DICK _Old Curiosity Shop_

TAPLEY, MARK _Martin Chuzzlewit_

TAPPERTIT, SIMON _Barnaby Rudge_

TARTAR, LIEUTENANT _Edwin Drood_

"TATTYCORAM" _Little Dorrit_

TIGG, MONTAGUE _Martin Chuzzlewit_

TODGERS, MRS. _Martin Chuzzlewit_

TRADDLES, TOMMY _David Copperfield_

TRENT, MR. _Old Curiosity Shop_

TROTTER, JOB _Pickwick Papers_

TROTWOOD, MISS BETSY _David Copperfield_

TULKINGHORN, MR. _Bleak House_

TUPMAN _Pickwick Papers_

TURVEYDROP, MR. _Bleak House_

TURVEYDROP, PRINCE _Bleak House_

TWINKLETON, MISS _Edwin Drood_

TWIST, OLIVER _Oliver Twist_

UNCLE PUMBLECHOOK _Great Expectations_

VARDEN _Barnaby Rudge_

VARDEN, DOLLY _Barnaby Rudge_

VENEERING, MR. _Our Mutual Friend_

VENUS, MR. _Our Mutual Friend_

VERISOPHT, LORD FREDERICK _Nicholas Nickleby_

VHOLES _Bleak House_

WARDLE, EMILY _Pickwick Papers_

WARDLE, MR. _Pickwick Papers_

WARDLE, MISS _Pickwick Papers_

WEGG, SILAS _Our Mutual Friend_

WELLER, MRS. _Pickwick Papers_

WELLER, SAM _Pickwick Papers_

WELLER, TONY _Pickwick Papers_

WEMMICK _Great Expectations_

WESTLOCK, JOHN _Martin Chuzzlewit_

WICKFIELD, AGNES _David Copperfield_

WICKFIELD, MR. _David Copperfield_

WILFER, BELLA _Our Mutual Friend_

WILFER, MR. _Our Mutual Friend_

WILLET, JOE _Barnaby Rudge_

WINKLE _Pickwick Papers_

WITITTERLY, MRS. _Nicholas Nickleby_

WOODCOURT, ALLAN _Bleak House_

WOPSLE _Great Expectations_

WRAYBURN, EUGENE _Our Mutual Friend_

"WREN, JENNIE" _Our Mutual Friend_