s Hamblin had done. She
still felt most keenly his apparent neglect of her during her troubles,
and of course, being entirely ignorant of what had occurred, she
attributed it to the most unworthy motives, which, however, did not help
to reconcile her to the loss of his friendship.

She gathered from what Mr. Palmer had said about his not being quite
strong yet that Ray had been ill, and she wondered, too, what he had
meant by his being depressed on account of some other matter that was
troubling him.

She had also learned something new about the robbery, of which she had
only had a faint hint from the little item which she had read in the
paper on the day she went to Mrs. Montague's. She gleaned now that Ray
had in some way been responsible for the loss--or, at least felt himself
to be so to some extent.

She wished that she could have heard more about him, and she was
conscious of a deeper sense of loneliness and friendliness, from this
little rift in the cloud that had shut her out of the world where once
she had been so happy.

Another sigh escaped her as she slowly turned to go on to her room and
almost unconsciously she cried out, with a little sob of pain and
longing:

"Oh, Ray, Ray!"

"Aha!"

The ejaculation startled the young girl beyond measure. She did not dream
that there was any one near her. She had been so absorbed in observing
Mr. Palmer and listening to what had occurred in the lower hall, and in
her own sad thoughts, that she was unconscious that any one had stolen up
on her unawares, and had also been a witness to the interview between Mr.
Palmer and Mr. Wellington, until this exclamation made her look up. She
found herself again face to face with Louis Hamblin.

"Aha!" he repeated, in a tone of triumph, but with a frown upon his brow;
"that explains why my suit was so disdained this morning! So you know
and--love Mr. Raymond Palmer! My pretty Ruth, pray tell me how this young
Apollo managed to inspire the princess of sewing-girls with such tender
sentiments, that I may profit by his successful method."

"Let me pass!" Mona commanded, as, straight as a young palm, she
confronted the insolent fellow with blazing cheeks and flashing eyes.

"It makes you wonderfully pretty to get angry," he returned, with a
gleeful chuckle; "but I am not going to let you pass until you tell me
when and where you made young Palmer's acquaintance," and he continued
to stand directly in her path.

"Do you imag