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Page 47
"Mercy, Edith! What has happened?"
Edith could only murmur the word "Fanny," as she started forward, and
buried her face, sobbing, on his bosom.
"Fanny! What of her? Oh, Edith! speak!"
The agitation of the wife was, for the time, too overpowering to admit
of words, and so Claire turned to the lady and said, hurriedly--
"Will you tell me, madam, what has happened?"
"It appears, sir," she replied, "that a strange lady enticed the
children to Washington Square, on their way from school"--
"And then carried off our dear, dear Fanny!" sobbed out Edith.
"Carried off Fanny!" exclaimed Claire.
"This lady," said Edith, growing calmer, "found our little Edie
crying, in the square, and brought her home. Edie says the lady took
them down there, and then told her to wait until she went with Fanny
to buy some candies. They went, but did not return."
The meaning of all this was quite as clear to the mind of Edward
Claire as it was to his wife. He understood, likewise, that this was
the work of Jasper, and that Fanny was now in his possession. What was
to be done?
"Our first step," said Claire, after the stranger had retired, "must
be to ascertain, if possible, whether what we believe to be true in
regard to Fanny is really true. We must know certainly, whether she be
really in the hands of Mr. Jasper."
"Where else can she be?" asked Edith, a new fear throwing its quick
flash into her face.
"We, naturally," replied her husband, "take it for granted that Mr.
Jasper has put his threat into execution. There is a bare possibility
that such is not the case; and we must not rest until we have, on this
point, the most absolute certainty."
"For what other purpose could she have been enticed away?" said Mrs.
Claire, her face again blanching to a deadly paleness.
"We know nothing certain, Edith; and while this is the case, we cannot
but feel a double anxiety. But, I must not linger here. Be as calm as
possible, my dear wife, in this painful trial. I will go at once to
Mr. Jasper, and learn from him whether he has the child."
"Go quickly, Edward," said Edith. "Oh! it will be such a relief to
have a certainty; to know even that she is in his hands."
Without further remark, Claire left his house and hurried off to the
store of Jasper. The merchant was not there. From one of his clerks he
learned his present residence, which happened not to be far distant.
Thither he went, and, on asking to see him, was told by the servant
that he was not at home. He then inquired for Mrs. Jasper, who, on
being summoned, met him in one of the parlours. The manner of Claire
was very much agitated, and he said, with an abruptness that evidently
disconcerted the lady--
"Good evening, madam! My name is Claire. You remember me, of course?"
The lady bowed coldly, and with a frown on her brow.
"Is little Fanny Elder here?" was asked, and with even greater
abruptness.
"Fanny Elder? No! Why do you ask that question?"
There was something so positive in the denial of Mrs. Jasper, that
Claire felt her words as truth.
"Not here?" said he, catching his breath in a gasping manner. "Not
here?"
"I said that she was not here," was the reply.
"Oh, where then is she, madam?" exclaimed the young man, evincing
great distress.
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