l keep the bogus crescents, to remind me of my folly, for of
course I shall never see the real ones again."

Did he?

CHAPTER III.

MONA.

"Mona, come here, dear, please."

A gentleman, of perhaps forty-five, looked up from the desk where he
had been writing, as he uttered this request; but his voice trembled
slightly, and was replete with tenderness, as he spoke the name which
heads this chapter.

The girl whom he addressed was sitting by a window on the opposite side
of the room, and she lifted her bright brown head and turned a pair of
dark, liquid eyes upon the speaker.

"Yes, Uncle Walter," she cheerfully responded, as, laying down her book,
she arose and moved gracefully across the room toward the handsome,
aristocratic-looking man at the desk, who watched her every motion with
a fond intentness that betrayed a deep and absorbing affection for her.

He frowned slightly, however, as she spoke, and a half-bitter,
half-scornful smile curled his finely chiseled lips for an instant.

The young girl was tall and exquisitely formed, but her face was one not
easily described. Her features were delicate and clearly defined, yet
with a certain roundness about them such as one sees in a faultlessly
sculptured statue, while unusual strength of character was written
indelibly upon them. Her hair was slightly curly, and arranged with a
careful carelessness that was very becoming, while here and there a stray
ringlet, that had escaped the silver pin that confined it, seemed to
coquet with the delicate fairness of her neck and brow.

Reaching her uncle's side, she laid one white hand upon his shoulder,
then slid it softly about his neck.

"What is it, Uncle Walter? What, makes you look so sober? Have I done
something naughty that you are going to scold me for?" she concluded,
playfully, as she bent forward and looked archly into his eyes.

His face grew luminous instantly as he met her gaze, while he captured
her small hand and toyed with the rosy, taper fingers.

"Do I look sober?" and a brilliant smile chased the gloom from lip and
brow. "I did not mean to, while you know I could not scold you if you
were ever so naughty, and you are never that."

"Perhaps every one does not look upon me with your partial eyes," the
lovely girl returned, with a musical little laugh.

The man carried the hand he held to his lips and kissed it lingeringly.

"Let me see," he remarked, after thinking a moment, "isn't it s