If Mr.Jasper left the city on the day previous, and his wife had, as he could not help believing, no knowledge whatever of Fanny, then the more distressing inference was that she had been enticed away by some stranger.
On his way home, Claire called again at the store of Jasper.

It occurred to him to ask there as to his absence from the city.

The reply he received was in agreement with Mrs.Jasper's assertion.

He had left town on the previous day.
"Where has he gone ?" he inquired.
"To Reading, I believe," was the answer.
"Will he return soon ?" "Not for several days, I believe." With a heavy heart, Claire bent his way homeward.

He cherished a faint hope that Fanny might have returned.