'
'You are always responsible and trustworthy, Mr. Crisparkle. Do
you really feel sure that you can answer for him so confidently?'
'I do.'
The perplexed and perplexing look vanished.
'Then you relieve my mind of a great dread, and a heavy weight,'
said Jasper; 'I will do it.'
Mr. Crisparkle, delighted by the swiftness and completeness of his
success, acknowledged it in the handsomest terms.
'I will do it,' repeated Jasper, 'for the comfort of having your
guarantee against my vague and unfounded fears. You will laugh--
but do you keep a Diary?'
'A line for a day; not more.'
'A line for a day would be quite as much as my uneventful life
would need, Heaven knows,' said Jasper, taking a book from a desk,
'but that my Diary is, in fact, a Diary of Ned's life too. You
will laugh at this entry; you will guess when it was made:
'"Past midnight.--After what I have just now seen, I have a morbid
dread upon me of some horrible consequences resulting to my dear
boy, that I cannot reason with or in any way contend against. All
my efforts are vain. The demoniacal passion of this Neville
Landless, his strength in his fury, and his savage rage for the
destruction of its object, appal me. So profound is the
impression, that twice since I have gone into my dear boy's room,
to assure myself of his sleeping safely, and not lying dead in his
blood."
'Here is another entry next morning:
'"Ned up and away.
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