CHAPTER XVI.
A LETTER FROM JAKE AMSDEN.
On receipt of the despatch reproduced at the close of the last chapter Mr. Wentworth started immediately for Ilium, and had an interview with Dr. McIntire.
“When did my son leave Ilium?” he asked.
“Two days ago, probably. He was not at recitations, but I received a note saying he was sick with the influenza. This seemed natural, for I have myself been suffering from the same malady, and therefore my suspicions were not excited. When the next morning Victor also absented himself I sent around to his boarding-house, and learned that he and a school friend of his—Arthur Grigson—had not been seen for twenty-four hours. Their trunks were left, but each had taken a valise, filled with clothing, as may be presumed, for the bureau drawers were empty. It is clear that the flight was premeditated. Can you furnish me with any clew, Mr. Wentworth, to the probable cause of this escapade?”
“Only this, that Victor in his last letter asked permission to go off on a trip with this boy, Arthur Grigson. He wished to leave school and travel for a year.”
“That explains it. You refused, I presume?”
“Yes, emphatically.”
“Your son then has gone without leave.”
“It would seem so. What is the character of this Arthur Grigson?”
“He is from Syracuse, in New York State. I believe he has no immediate family, but is under the charge of a guardian, who lets him do pretty much as he pleases. Had your son any money, do you think?”