Five anxious minutes passed, and then the man returned.
“No, Sir Philip, he went up to his bedroom.”
Pale and trembling, Sir Philip rose and hurried upstairs. He knew that Charley had had some more than usually bitter reverse, and a horrible dread had invaded the troubled father’s breast, so that when he reached his son’s room door, he feared to summon him; but at last he knocked, and waited for a few moments before he struck again upon the panels, this time more forcibly.
There was no reply.
Volume Two—Chapter Twenty Two.
Accident or Design?
Sir Philip Vining tried the door again and again, shaking it loudly, and repeating his son’s name; but there was no reply.
What should he do—summon assistance and have the room broken open? He dreaded calling for aid, to bring up the curious to gaze upon his anguish, and perhaps upon—