Underneath the respectability Drood is an opium addict and no longer loves Rosa, the secret love of Jasper. Drood breaks the engagement and disappears completely. Also in love with Rosa, Neville Landless is arrested for Drood's murder, but released for lack of a body. Fearing Rosa's feelings for Landless, Jasper confesses his love and threatens to further implicate Landless in the murder unless she returns his love. The manuscript ends as Datchery, a shadowy character bedeviling Jasper, is introduced.
Speculation abounds, but the mystery remains.
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens Extremely popular in its day, this sentimental novel was published in 1841. Little Nell Trent and her grandfather suffer greatly and finally flee London when he gambles the curiosity shop away to his creditor, the evil dwarf, Quilp. They are eagerly searched for by Nell's friend, Kit Nubbles and a gentleman, who turns out to be the grandfather's wealthy brother, but Quilp thwarts them at every turn. Quilp, himself, must finally flee the law and drowns in the process. However, Nell dies before the two searchers find them and her grandfather follows only a few days later.