nearly three o’clock before
Byron and Molesworth were reported absent . No one had seen them go ; no one had the least suspicion of how they got out of the house . One little boy mentioned the skylight ; but observing a threatening expression on the faces of a few of the bigger boys , who were fond of fruit , he did not press his suggestion , and submitted to be snubbed by the doctor for having made it . It was nearly three o'clock before the alarm reached the village , where the authorities tacitly declined to trouble themselves about it until morning . The doctor , convinced that the lad had gone to his mother , did not believe that any search was necessary , and contented himself with writing a note to Mrs. Byron describing the attack on Mr. Wilson , and expressing regret that no proposal having for its object the readmission of Master Byron to the academy could be entertained . The pursuit was now directed entirely after Molesworth , an it wan plain , from Mr. Wilson 's narrative , that he had separated from Cashel outside Panley . Information was soon forthcoming .