Gregorio and attracted his attention. It was about four o'clock, he
thought, and he described the exact spot where the little boy had been
sailing his vessel fastened to a string. They might have been talking
twenty minutes or half an hour when Gregorio missed his charge, and
since that time both had been doing all in their power to find him,
until half-past seven, when he had to return to his club, and Gregorio
went to see whether the child had been taken home.

By this time Mr. Egremont looked so utterly exhausted, that Mr. Dutton
availed himself of the hope that the boy might be found safe at home to
take him back; but alas! nothing had been heard there.

The poor man was in a restless, unmanageable state of excitement,
almost as terrifying to his daughter as the distress that occasioned
it. He swallowed a tumblerful of claret, but would not eat nor go to
bed; and indeed, Gregorio alone having had the personal charge of him,
latterly sleeping in his dressing-room, none of the other servants knew
what to do for him. Mr. Dutton agreed with her that it would be better
to send for his doctor, as probably he ought to have a sedative, and
neither would take the responsibility of giving it; while he himself
declared he neither would nor could rest till he had his boy again.

The doctor was dining out, and they had two terrible hours; while Mr.
Egremont paced to the windows; threw himself on the sofa; denounced
Gregorio; or, for a change, all the system of police which had made no
discovery; and Ursula for letting the boy be so helpless. Mr. Dutton
sometimes diverted his attention for a few minutes, and hoped he would
doze, but the least sound brought him to his feet again, and the only
congenial occupation was the composition of a description of poor
little Alwyn's person and dress, which set Nuttie crying so
uncontrollably, that she had to run out of the room.

Dr. Brownlow came at last, and was very kind and helpful, taking the
command, and insisting that Mr. Egremont should go to bed, and take the
dose which he mixed. Broadbent, the butler, was to take Gregorio's
place, but he was a ponderous man, without much tact, and unused to the
valet's office. 'I might just as well have a rhinoceros about me,'
said Mr. Egremont, in a fit of irritation; and it ended, Nuttie hardly
knew how, in Mr. Dutton's going upstairs to smooth matters. He came
down after a time and said: 'I am not satisfied to leave him alone or
to B