"Pshaw! You are always making a fuss about something," returned Osric, who felt uneasy himself, and as usual felt a strong desire to revenge that uneasiness on somebody. "You just spoil all the comfort of my life, Elsie Dennison, and especially since you've got to be so wonderful pious. I wish you were not my sister at all. You do nothing but plague me all the time."
"Oh, Ozzy, how can you say so?" exclaimed Elsie, in a new burst of grief.
"Because I feel so," answered Osric. "I almost hate you, Elsie Dennison, so there!" And with these wicked words, Osric quitted the room and went to his own, which was close by. He was very uncomfortable; for the more he thought about it, the more he felt that he had left Christopher shut up in the vault. He tried to think that somebody would be sure to let him out, but it was not very pleasant to think of poor Christopher confined in that dismal place, and crying for his mother, perhaps frightened to death by the darkness and loneliness: for Osric had heard of such things.
Then, if Christopher should get out alive, he would be sure to tell, and what would his father say? He had been threatened with severe punishment the next time he told a lie, and he knew that his father was a man of his word. Osric was frightened at himself when he found he was actually hoping Christopher might never come out alive. Oh no, he did not mean that, only he wished he had never gone to see the funeral. It was all Christopher's fault, anyway. Osric would never have gone but for him.
Presently he heard a buggy drive up, and a few minutes afterwards his father called him from the foot of the stairs: "Osric! Come down here, directly!"
"I am just going to bed," replied Osric, beginning to undress as fast as possible. "I was all undressed."
"Dress yourself, then, and come down. I want you."
There was nothing for it but to obey. Osric put on his clothes again, and went down to the kitchen, where he found his father and mother, with Mr. Parsons and David.
"Come here, Osric," said his mother. "Mr. Parsons wants to speak to you."
"Don't be afraid, now, but tell me the exact truth," said Mr. Parsons. "Where did you and Christopher go when you were sent after water?"