The Dark Night by Lucy Ellen Guernsey

MEANTIME, there was a great wonder what could have become of Christopher.

Mrs. Parsons waited till supper-time without much alarm. She thought Christopher had perhaps stopped to play with the children who lived near the school-house-a thing he sometimes did, though his mother had forbidden it-but when the sun was near setting, and still he did not come, she grew uneasy and went over to her brother-in-law's house to see if David knew anything about his cousin. She met David himself at the gate, apparently just come home.