"We walked about there for a little while, and then the lady told me to wait while she took Fanny to the candy-store to buy some candy. I waited, and waited ever so long; but she didn't come back; and then I cried." The meaning of all this, poor Mrs. Claire understood but too well. With what a shock it fell upon her. She asked no further question. What need was there? Edie's artless story made every thing clear. Fanny had been enticed away by some one employed by Jasper, and was now in his possession! With pale face and quivering lips, she sat bending over Edie, silent for several moments. Then recollecting herself, she said to the lady--- "I thank you, ma'am, most sincerely, for the trouble you have taken in bringing home my little girl. This is a most distressing affair. The other child has, evidently, been enticed away." "You will take immediate steps for her recovery," said the lady. "Oh, yes. I expect my husband home, now, every moment." While she was yet speaking, Claire came in. Seeing the white face of his wife, he exclaimed-- "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.