er bosom as she listened
to this reference to herself; but, with every appearance of perfect
composure, she measured off some ribbon that she was making into bows,
and severed it with a sharp clip of her scissors.

"Perhaps you do not know whom I mean," said Mrs. Montague, and paused,
determined to make the girl speak.

"Oh, yes, I have heard of him, and I remember reading the notice of his
death in a paper," Mona compelled herself to say, without betraying
anything of the pain which smote her heart in recurring thus to her great
loss.

Mrs. Montague frowned.

She was not progressing as well as she could have wished in her "pumping"
operation; but she meant to probe the matter as far as she dared.

"Well," she went on, "this niece was supposed by everybody to be Mr.
Dinsmore's heiress; but a discarded wife suddenly made her appearance,
after his death, and claimed the whole of his property, and the girl was
left without a penny. She must have been terribly cut up about it, for
she suddenly disappeared, and cannot be found, and it is this that has so
upset young Palmer. He had not committed himself, his father informed me,
but was just on the point of declaring his love when Mr. Dinsmore died;
and the girl, evidently crushed by her loss, has hidden herself so
securely that no one can find her."

It was fortunate for Mona that her recent troubles had taught her
something of self-control, or she must have betrayed herself at this
point.

She realized that Mrs. Montague must have a purpose in relating all this
to her, and feared it was to verify some suspicion regarding herself.

She now believed that the woman must know all her mother's history, and
certain facts regarding her own birth, which she felt that Mr. Dinsmore
had, for some reason, withheld from her. This conviction had grown upon
her ever since she had been a member of her family, and she hoped, by
some means, if she remained long enough with her, to learn the truth.
Still she feared that if Mrs. Montague should discover that she was her
husband's daughter she might be so prejudiced against her she would at
once dismiss her from her employ, and she would then lose her only chance
to solve the questions that puzzled her. But she found it very hard to
conceal the great and sudden joy that went thrilling through her as she
listened to these facts regarding Ray Palmer's affection for and his
loyalty to her.

He had not been unworthy and faithless, as she