Page:Stanwood Pier--Harding of St Timothys.djvu/88

66 "We're not out of the woods yet," Harry whispered gloomily to Frank Windsor. "Suppose the doctor makes a long call? He may keep us here too late for us to get to sacred studies. Then what?"

This was a possibility which had not been considered, and its seriousness was admitted. If they should be absent from the class which the rector personally conducted, or even be late to it, there would undoubtedly be a searching investigation; and even if this led to nothing, the punishment for the lapse would be severe.

Frank Windsor looked at his watch. They had three quarters of an hour leeway, and they could at a pinch make the distance to the school in fifteen minutes.

"If only Doctor Vincent's coachman were not sitting out there!" muttered Herrick. "It would be easy enough to drop out of the window, run round the house, and get away. But I suppose that coachman would tell."

"He'd probably yell out and give the alarm," said Harry dejectedly.