There was no choice but to obey, however, for Mr. Allen in his last injunction to his son, had urged him to give every heed to his guardian’s requests. He found the professor in his study, with open books piled all about on a table before which he sat. In his hand Mr. Klopper held a white slip of paper. “Jack,” he said, more kindly than he had spoken since the trouble between them, “I have here a telegram concerning your father and mother.” “Is it--is it bad news?” asked the boy quickly, for something in the professor’s tone and manner indicated it. “Well, I--er--I’m sorry to say it is not good news. It is rather disquieting. You remember I told you I cabled to the United States Consul in Hong Kong concerning your parents, when several days went by without either of us hearing from them.” “What does he say?” “His cablegram states that your parents went on an excursion outside of Hong Kong about two weeks ago, and no word has been received from them since.” “Are they--are they killed?” “No; I do not think so. The consul adds that as there have been disturbances in China, it is very likely that Mr. and Mrs. Allen, together with some other Americans, have been detained in a friendly province, until the trouble is over. I thought you had better know this.” “Do you suppose there is any danger?” “I do not think so. There is no use worrying, though I was a little anxious when I had no word from them. We will hope for the best. I will cable the consul to send me word as soon as he has any additional news.” “Poor mother!” said Jack. “She’s nervous, and if she gets frightened it may have a bad effect on her heart.” “Um,” remarked the professor. He had little sympathy for ailing women. “In view of this news I have decided to mitigate your punishment,” he added to Jack. “You may consider yourself at liberty to-morrow, though I shall expect you to spend at least three hours in reading some good and helpful book. I will pick one out for you. It is well to train our minds to deep reading, for there is so much of the frivolous in life now-a-days, that the young are very likely to form improper thinking habits. I would recommend that you spend an hour before you retire to-night, in improving yourself in Latin. Your conjugation of verbs was very weak the last time I examined you.” “I--I don’t think I could study to-night,” said Jack, who felt quite miserable with his enforced detention in the house, and the unpleasant news concerning his parents. “I’d be thinking so much about my father and mother that I couldn’t keep my attention on the verbs,” he said. “That indicates a weak intellect,” returned the professor. “You should labor to overcome it. However, perhaps it would be useless to have you do any Latin to-night. But I must insist on you improving in your studies. Your last report from the academy was very poor.”