But a hasty search proved unavailing. They were sorry, very sorry, but it must have gone into the waste-basket.
So the reporter, satisfied that there was no sensation in the case, withdrew, and sought a spicy paragraph for his paper elsewhere. But, all the same, he had been cleverly gulled and cheated out of an interesting item.
For the mystery of Florence Fane’s disappearance became one of the most unfathomable on record.
The fair young girl returned neither to her New York boarding-house, nor to the store where she was employed, nor to her Mount Vernon home.
It was not until a week had passed, and poor Mrs. Banks was beginning to fret over the non-reception of letters from Floy, that she was told the terrible truth of the girl’s disappearance.
But, prompted by Otho, they made light of the matter, declaring that the giddy young girl would turn up when least expected. No doubt she had gone to stay with some new friends she had made in New York.
Poor Mrs. Banks was heart-broken, but she could do nothing. Poverty tied her hands from making any search for her darling. She could only pine and endure in silence.
The Maurys did not see that there was anything to do but wait for developments.
In all the world there seemed to be no friend to seek for the missing girl.
And yet, undreamed of by the Maurys, there was a search going on for Floy.