"When the boy came down with dry clothes on, he looked less frightened than before; and we established him in a big chair and gave him plenty of nuts, and a glass of cider; I poured it out with my own hands; you needn't look so shocked at Grandmother, Harold, I didn't know any better in those days. He had a real pleasant evening, and Miss Harriet invited him to stay all night, because it rained so hard, and sent her black Toby over to the school to ask permission for him, and told him she would make it all right in the morning. He seemed to be so glad to think he had not to go back to the school, that we knew something must be wrong; but it was not until he went up to bed with Robbie, that Tom told us about it. "'Those scamps over there,' said Tom, his eyes flashing, 'they deserve a whipping, and I will help get it for them. There are half a dozen great boys always in mischief of one sort or other. It seems they have made a kind of slave of this little fellow; his mother is dead, and he is the youngest boy in school; they have made him run errands, and do all sorts of things for them; to-night they planned that he was to go down to Jordon's and get them some nuts, and raisins, and cider, and cake, and smuggle it into their rooms after hours, for them to have what they call a 'spread.' And it seems the little chap had the pluck to refuse to do it, because it was against the rules. They had a stormy time, and finally they threatened to lock him up in a hole where he would have to spend the night, and how much longer they could not tell. It seems he is timid in the dark, and they knew it. He was awfully afraid, he told me, "but then I couldn't do wrong, you know," he said, and his eyes were as blue as the sky, when he looked up in my face. Well, the rascals blindfolded him, and led him around and around the grounds, I presume, for he thought he walked a mile or more; then thrust him into a dark hole, and fastened the door and left him. When he pushed off the bandage from his eyes, no light was to be seen; he had not the least idea where he was, but thought it was somewhere in the woods, and he was dreadfully afraid, and cried aloud, he says, but he was sure no one could hear him. Then he remembered about the fiery furnace, and what the men said about God being able to deliver, and he got down in the dark and prayed for deliverance; but he says he didn't feel _sure_ it would come; he was only sure that God was able to do it if he thought best. He hadn't an idea, when he saw aunt Harriet, that she had come to answer his prayer. He knew her, and for some reason the little chap was afraid of _her_. He thought that she had been told that he had done something wrong.' "'What horrid, awful boys!' I said. 'Do you suppose they were going to leave him there all night?'