“It’s that boy,” gasped Nathan.
“Go up and see what is the matter, Mr. Middleton.”
“Come with me, Corinthia,” said Nathan, in tremulous accents. “He may be crazy.”
In a state of nervous apprehension the two made their way to the door of Tom’s room.
CHAPTER V
A WARLIKE VISIT.
WHEN Tom deposited himself in bed, he found the straw-bed even more uncomfortable than he anticipated. The straw crackled beneath him at every movement, and was far from affording that ease which our hero coveted.
“I might as well sleep on a bed of thorns or briers,” he said to himself. “It’s cheap, and that is the only recommendation it has, but I can’t stand it, and I don’t mean to.”
At first Tom intended to make no disturbance till the next day, but Mrs. Middleton’s evident unwillingness to provide anything better decided him to take action immediately.