The man's handsome face was quite pale; he did not look so angry as severe and unhappy, but the boy knew well enough what the expression boded.

He had seen it before.

He looked back at his father, and his small, pink-and-white face never quivered, and his black eyes never fell.
"Well ?" said Carroll.
"Where have you been ?" asked Carroll.
The anxious faces of the boy's mother and his aunt became visible at a front window, a flutter of white skirts appeared at the entrance of the grounds.

The girls were returning from their search.
"Answer me," commanded Carroll.
"Teacher sent me on an errand," he replied then, with a kind of doggedness.
"The truth," said Carroll.
"I went out catching butterflies, after I had dined with Mr.Anderson and his mother." "You dined with Mr.Anderson and his mother ?" "Yes, sir.

You needn't think he was to blame.