"Carlia is gone."
"Gone? Gone where?"
"Nobody knows. She's been missing for a week. She left home last
Saturday to spend a few days with a friend in the city, so she said.
Yesterday her father called at the place to bring her home and learned
that she had never been there."
"My gracious, mother!"
"Yes; it's terrible. Her father has inquired for her and looked for her everywhere he could think of, but not a trace of her can he find. She's gone."
Mother and son sat in silence for some time. He continued to ask questions, but she know no more than the simple facts which she had told. He could do nothing to help, at least, not then, so he reluctantly went to bed. He did not sleep until past midnight.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Dorian was not tardy to Sunday School, and, considering his mental condition, he gave a good account of himself in the class. He heard whispered comment on Carlia's disappearance.
After Sunday school Dorian went directly to Carlia's home. He found the mother tear-stained and haggard with care. The tears flowed again freely at the sight of Dorian, and she clung to him as if she had no other means of comfort.
"Do you know where Carlia is?" she wailed.