Describe the anxiety of the Otis family when Virginia is discovered to be missing. Who does Mr. Otis think is responsible for Virginia's...

In Chapter Six, when Virginia does not come down for tea, Mrs. Otis isn't initially concerned. She thinks that her daughter is in the garden, gathering flowers for the dinner-table. However, when six o'clock strikes and the whereabouts of Virginia are still unknown, Mrs. Otis begins to panic. She sends the boys out to look for their sister, while she and Mr. Otis search all the rooms of the house. Upon coming up empty, the...

In Chapter Six, when Virginia does not come down for tea, Mrs. Otis isn't initially concerned. She thinks that her daughter is in the garden, gathering flowers for the dinner-table. However, when six o'clock strikes and the whereabouts of Virginia are still unknown, Mrs. Otis begins to panic. She sends the boys out to look for their sister, while she and Mr. Otis search all the rooms of the house. Upon coming up empty, the whole family becomes greatly agitated, and everyone becomes consumed with fear.

Eventually, Mr. Otis suspects that Virginia has likely been kidnapped by a band of gypsies who have been camping in his park. Mr. Otis sets out to test his hypothesis; meanwhile, he sends letters to all the police inspectors in the county and enlists their help in looking for Virginia. However, all these efforts come to naught. Virginia is not with the gypsies, and no one has seen her at all. By this time, Mrs. Otis is "almost out of her mind with terror and anxiety." The family eventually sit down to a very melancholy meal, and afterwards, Mr. Otis orders everyone to bed.

However, at the stroke of midnight, a loud peal of thunder shakes the house, and the strains of otherworldly music fill the air. Suddenly, a panel at the top of the staircase flies open, and Virginia steps out onto the landing. So, Mr. Otis was wrong about Virginia having been taken by the gypsies. Instead, Virginia tells her family that she had been with the Ghost before his death. She asserts that the Ghost had regretted all his wicked ways and had repented of them before he died. As a gift, he had bequeathed Virginia a box of beautiful jewels.

At the end of the chapter, when one of the twins points out that "the old withered almond-tree has blossomed," Virginia maintains that God has finally forgiven the Ghost for all his crimes.