"It makes no difference. He can't make me do it, though he threatened me with a stick this morning."
"Surely he did not strike you?" said his mother nervously.
"No, I guess not. He did not dare to."
It so happened that James Talbot did not reach home till a late hour in the evening, when Robert was already in bed. He went upstairs softly, ascertained from Robert's regular breathing that he was sound asleep, then taking the key from the lock inside, locked the door from the outside, and went downstairs with a smile.
"When the boy wakes up, he will find himself a prisoner," he said. "I shall get even with him, after all."
CHAPTER IV.
MR. TALBOT IS MYSTIFIED.
Robert slept soundly, and didn't wake till near breakfast-time. He jumped out of bed and hastily dressed himself. Then he went to the door of his chamber, and tried to open it. To his surprise, he found himself unable to do so. For the first time he noticed that the key was not in the lock.