returned from Havana, she did not imagine that either of the lawyers
or Ray had seen her to learn anything new from her, even if she had
discovered anything.

"Well, I should like to see them," she responded, contemptuously, but
with a confident air that would have been very irritating to one less
assured than Mr. Corbin.

He quietly drew a folded paper from his breast-pocket, opened and
smoothed it out, and going to the woman's side, held it before her for
examination.

She was wholly unprepared for the appalling revelation that met her eyes,
and the instant that she realized that the paper was the identical
certificate, which she believed to be in her own possession, she lost
every atom of her color. A cry of anger and dismay broke from her, and
snatching the parchment from the lawyer's hand, she sprang to her feet,
crying, hoarsely:

"Where did you get it? how did it come into your possession?"

"Pray, madame, do not be so excited," Mr. Corbin calmly returned, "and be
careful of that document, if you please, for it is worth a great deal to
my young client. Mr. Raymond Palmer supplied me with this very necessary
link in the evidence required to prove Miss Montague's identity."

"And how came Raymond Palmer to have a paper that belonged to me?"
demanded Mrs. Montague, turning to him with an angry gleam in her eyes.
"I have supposed him to be a gentleman--he must be a thief, else he never
could have had it."

"You are mistaken in both assertions, Mrs. Montague," Ray responded, with
cold dignity. "In the first place, the paper does not belong to you; it
rightly belongs to your husband's daughter. In the second place, it came
into my possession in a perfectly legitimate manner. On the day of your
high-tea I came here a little late, if you remember. Your private parlor
above was used as the gentleman's dressing-room, and I found that
document lying underneath the draperies of the bay-window. I accidentally
stepped upon it. It crackled beneath my feet, and it was but natural
that I should wish to ascertain what was there. When I discovered the
nature of the paper I felt perfectly justified in taking charge of it,
in the interests of my promised wife, and so gave it into Mr. Corbin's
hands."

Mrs. Montague sat like one half stunned during this explanation, for she
readily comprehended how this terrible calamity had happened to overtake
her. She realized that the certificate must have slipped from her lap to
the f