Mona Forester and--Richmond Montague?"

Again Mona blushed, and hot tears of grief and shame rushed to her eyes,
as, all at once, it flashed into her mind that her errand there would be
a fruitless one, for she was utterly powerless to prove anything, while
the peculiar emphasis which Mr. Corbin had almost unconsciously used in
speaking of her father made her very uncomfortable. She had hoped to
learn more than she had to reveal, and that her strong resemblance to her
mother's picture would be sufficient to prove the relationship between
them; but now she began to fear that it would not.

"What proofs do I need?" she asked, in a voice that was not quite steady.

"The marriage certificate of the contracting parties, or some witness of
the ceremony, besides some reliable person who can identify you as their
child," was the business-like response.

"Then I can prove nothing," Mona said, in a weary tone, "for I have no
certificate, no letters, not even a scrap of writing penned by either my
father or my mother."

A peculiar expression swept over Mr. Corbin's face at this statement, and
Mona caught sight of it.

"What could it mean?" she asked herself, with a flash of anger that was
quite foreign to her amiable disposition. "Did the man imagine her to be
an impostor, or did he suspect that there might have been no legal bond
between her parents?"

This latter thought made her tingle to her fingertips, and aroused all
her proud spirit.

"I can at least prove that I am Walter Dinsmore's niece," she added,
lifting her head with a haughty air, while her thoughts turned to Mr.
Graves, her uncle's lawyer. He at least knew and could testify to the
fact. "He took me," she continued, "three days after mother's death, and
I lived with him from that time until he died."

"Ah! and your mother was Mr. Dinsmore's sister?" questioned Mr. Corbin.

"Yes. I always supposed, until within a few days, that she was his own
sister," Mona said, thinking it best to be perfectly open in her dealings
with the lawyer; "that her name was Mona Dinsmore; but only this week I
learned that it was Mona Forester, so, of course, she must have been a
half-sister."

"Well, if you can prove what you have stated it may lead to further
developments," said Mr. Corbin, kindly. "Let me examine your proofs, and
then I shall know what to do next."

A sudden fear smote Mona--a great shock made her heart almost cease its
beating at the lawyer's request.