The echo of his own voice alone answered him for a few moments, and then he heard a door open, and a voice, which he knew to be Henry's, cried,—
"What is it? who speaks?"
"Henry," said Charles.
"Yes—yes—yes."
"I fear I have disturbed you."
"You have been disturbed yourself, or you would not have done so. I shall be with you in a moment."
Henry closed his door before Charles Holland could tell him not to come to him, as he intended to do, for he felt ashamed to have, in a manner of speaking, summoned assistance for so trifling a cause of alarm as that to which he had been subjected. However, he could not go to Henry's chamber to forbid him from coming to his, and, more vexed than before, he retired to his room again to await his coming.
He left the door open now, so that Henry Bannerworth, when he had got on some articles of dress, walked in at once, saying,—
"What has happened, Charles?"
"A mere trifle, Henry, concerning which I am ashamed you should have been at all disturbed."