As he was about to pass the open door of the room which that gentleman occupied, he stopped and asked,—
“Are you asleep, sir?”
Mr. Muller felt very much inclined to say that he was, but instead of that he muttered that he was not quite asleep yet—just dropping off, he thought.
“I’ll not bother you now,” said the considerate Chap; “but to-morrow you’ll find me all ready to talk about that business.”
And he passed on.
“That is more than I shall be,” said Mr. Muller to himself. “I wonder if there is such a thing as a sunken ship on the place?”
And he went to sleep and dreamed that he had gone to bed in a ship that was buried three hundred feet under mud and sand; and he was in a great deal of trouble when he thought how difficult it would be for him to get out when it was time for him to go ashore for breakfast.
Phil and his uncle sat up until long after their usual bedtime. As soon as they were alone, Mr. Berkeley explained to Phil the reason he wrote the note which had caused the boy so much grief.
“When I walked over this way on the morning of that day,” said Mr. Berkeley. “I came after Old Bruden, because I thought it would be a good thing to have a gun out there in the woods with me, and I picked up a little fellow on the road to send to the house. I thought it very likely you would come running to meet me when you heard where I was, and so I did not stay by the bridge where the boy left me, but went over to the top of one of the little hills in the field, to watch and see who came from the house.
“I knew very well that if you came to me you would wheedle and coax me into giving up my splendid plan of study. When I saw you coming, and without the gun, as if my wishes and requests were not worth considering, I was a little provoked, and hurried down the other side of the hill, and by the time you reached the bridge I was far enough away. I did not, however, go back to my little hut, and after a time I began to think how disappointed you must have been when you came to the bridge and did not find me. It also dawned upon me that I was not behaving in a very sensible manner. It would be much better to go home and get what I wanted and trust to you not to annoy me with questions as to where I was and what I was doing. So, in the course of the afternoon, I started back for Hyson Hall, thinking it very likely I should spend the night there and return to my hut the next day; but when I came near the house, I heard those bells and soon saw them on the roof. I don’t know of any sound that could have affected me more disagreeably than the jingling of those bells. I knew that you understood how much I disliked them, and it pained me to think you should hang them up while I was gone. And when I considered that you knew I had been in the neighborhood that morning, it seemed to me that you had hung them in revenge for my having taken myself out of your way. I was so angry at this imagined insult that I marched off and mailed you that abominable note.”