Again the question of taking Claire once more into his employment came up in the mind of Jasper.  After viewing it on every side, the decision was adverse.  He felt that too great a risk was involved.  And so he employed one in whom he could confide with less certainty.

Several years had now passed since the merchant began to feel the shock of adverse winds.  All before was a summer sea, and the ship of his fortune had bent her sails alone to favouring breezes.  But this was to be no longer.  His ship had suffered not only by stress of weather, but also by the sacrifice of a portion of cargo to save what remained.  And, at last, she was driving on toward the breakers, and her safety from destruction only hoped for through the activity, skill, and tireless vigilance of her helmsman.

A few years before, Mr. Jasper considered himself worth between two and three hundred thousand dollars; now, he passed sleepless nights in fear of impending ruin.  He had trusted in riches; he had called them, in his heart, the greatest good.  At his word they had poured in upon him from all sides, until he was half bewildered at sight of the glittering treasures; but, just as he began to feel secure in his possessions, they began to take themselves wings and fly away.

And, alas for him! he had laid up no other treasures.  None in heaven; none in the hearts of his wife and children; none in his own mind.  The staff upon which he had leaned was now a splintering reed, wounding as it bent under him.

CHAPTER XIX.

There was one point of time to which Leonard Jasper looked with no little anxiety, and that was to the period of Fanny Elder’s majority, when it was his purpose to relinquish his guardianship, and wash his hands, if it were possible to do so, entirely clean of her.  Until the estate left by her father was settled up, the property in her hands and receipts in his, there was danger ahead.  And, as the time drew nearer and nearer, he felt increasing uneasiness.

On the very day that Fanny reached her eighteenth year, Jasper sent a note to Claire, asking an interview.

“I wish,” said he, when the latter came, “to have some conference with you about Miss Elder.  She has now, you are no doubt aware, attained the legal age.  Such being the case, I wish, as early as it can be done, to settle up the estate of her father, and pay over to her, or to any person she may select as her agent, the property in my hands.  It has increased some in value.  Will you consult her on the subject?”

Claire promised to do so; and, at the same time, asked as to the amount of Fanny’s property.