Midnight
Wildtree Towers had been thrown into a state of unmistakable panic when , at the usual hour of retiring for the night , Percy had not put in an appearance . His absence at dinner-time agitated no one but his mother ; and the search instituted at her bidding began languidly , and with the usual assurance of a speedy discovery . But as hour passed hour and no tidings came , things began to look serious , and even Walker pulled a long face . Midnight came , and still no tidings . Appleby came up to the house for a lantern , but had nothing to report beyond the fact that the search so far had been unsuccessful . The minutes dragged on for the unhappy watchers . It was harder far for them to sit there in the hall , listening to the unsympathetic tick of the clock and starting at every sound on the gravel without , than it was for the father to tramp through the woods and trace the footsteps along the river 's bank .