If I had not prevented you from continuing your journey, all
your hopes would have been blasted."
"I do not understand you."
"Where is your niece now?" asked the attorney, as a shade of anxiety
beclouded his brow.
"She was lost in the explosion," replied Jaspar, with a calmness with
which few persons can speak of the loss of near friends.
The attorney was particularly glad at this particular moment to
ascertain that this, as he had before suspected, was Jaspar's belief,
and that this belief had lulled him into security. He was not, however,
so candid as to give expression to his sentiments on the subject.
"Precisely so!" exclaimed the attorney, as though no shade of doubt or
anxiety had crossed him. "The Chalmetta exploded her boiler."
"Well!"
"Both Miss Dumont and her troublesome lover were lost,--were they not?"
"Yes."
"And, if you had continued on board, you would probably have shared
their fate."
"Yes; but do you mean to say you blowed the steamer up? asked Jaspar,
with a sneer.
"Exactly so!"
"Fool! do you expect me to believe such a miserable rigmarole as this?"
"I hope you will, for it is strictly true," returned the attorney,
convincingly.
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