SOLVED. Boy with evil uncle, afraid of falling down stairs in a tower. [s]

[...cats?]

I only remember an excerpt from this book, about a young boy living with his evil/abusive uncle. In the excerpt, the boy was sent by his uncle to go to the top of a tower. There might have been some water at the bottom of the tower - maybe a well - but I'm not sure. The stairs in the tower were difficult to climb. The boy was fumbling around in the dark, terrified, and found that there was one staircase missing. He realized then that his uncle planned for him to fall to his death from the staircase.

[Rainbowheart]

When did you read it?

[...cats?]

I read the excerpt in an English textbook in the mid-2000s, but I think the book that the excerpt was taken from was much older than that. It might have been Dickens?

[Kris]

cats, what's the genre or tone (which we need to add to the header/topic title) - e.g., for kids or teens? historical, suspense, fantasy, mystery, fantasy?

[...cats?]

I'm honestly not sure about any more details about the book - as I said above, it was printed on excerpt form in an English textbook. Most of the other excerpts from that textbook were from 19th and 20th century British and Indian classics - I recall reading sections from Ruskin Bond, Joberome K Jerome, Saki, and O Henry. So the book was probably something similar

[Nóinín]

Cats, you aren't by any chance looking for Kidnapped ?

[...cats?]

Nóinín wrote: "Cats, you aren't by any chance looking for Kidnapped ?"

YES! Kidnapped has the exact scene I was looking for, thank you so much!!