coloring.

"Yes, she's your father's wife, isn't she?" said Thorne, with a leer.

"Yes, but I acknowledge no such relationship as you suggest."

"She's your step-mother, whatever you say."

"I shall never call her so. You told me before I went that she was your
mother."

"I have always called her so, because I have known no other," said
Thorne, composedly. "She is really my aunt."

"It must be true, then," thought Jasper. "However, it is of little
importance to me what the relationship may be."

"I suppose this match makes us relations," said Thorne, smiling
disagreeably.

"I don't see that it does," said Jasper, coldly.

"You'd rather it wouldn't, I suppose," sneered Thorne, provoked.

"I don't know you well enough to desire so close a connection," said
Jasper, in the same cold tone.

"We shall know each other well enough some time," said Thorne, with
something of menace in his tone.

Jasper turned on his heel and walked away.

CHAPTER VIII.

SUDDEN DEATH.

Two months later there was a vacation for a week. Nicholas expected to
spend this with his mother, but for some reason Mrs. Kent gave him no
invitation. Probably she thought that Nicholas, though a paragon in her
eyes, was not likely to win favor in the eyes of Mr. Kent. His rough,
brutal disposition would have repelled the sick man, who had become
gentle in his enforced seclusion.

Thorne was disappointed, but his disappointment was softened by a timely
remittance of ten dollars from his mother, which he spent partly in
surreptitious games of billiards, partly in overloading his stomach with
pastry and nearly making himself sick.

Jasper spent the week at home. His company was the source of great
comfort and joy to his father, and this repaid him for the intrusion of
his step-mother.

She treated him with politeness and apparent cordiality, but once or
twice, when he chanced to look up unexpectedly, he detected her eyes
fixed upon him with a glance that seemed to express detestation. On
these occasions her expression changed instantly, and she addressed him
in a soft, friendly voice.

All this puzzled him.

"Does she hate me or not?" he asked himself. "I certainly don't like
her. Still, I shall force myself to treat her politely as long as she
treats my father well."

His father seldom spoke of his wife to his son, but sometimes Jasper
noticed that he breathed a sigh of relief when she left the room, as if
her presence had been