“Is she a relation?” inquired the woman, looking steadily into the excited face of her young visitor.
“No!” answered Florence, with an expression of disgust.
“Why do you seek her?” The manner and tone of the woman threw a chill over the feelings of Miss Harper.
“The person I seek has, it is feared, enticed away, or stolen, a little girl, whose mother is almost beside herself in consequence.”
“A grave charge to bring against any one,” said the woman, seriously. “I hardly think it can apply to Mrs. Fordham.”
“You know something of her antecedents, then?” Florence spoke inquiringly.
“Nothing,” answered the woman, almost coldly.
“Where can I find her now?”
“I have neither seen nor heard of her since she left my house,” said the woman.
The look of distress that settled on the countenance of Miss Harper seemed to awaken a motion of sympathy in the woman’s heart.