nd has come--he will not live an hour," gravely remarked Doctor
Hammond, as his skilled fingers sought the dying man's feeble pulse.

In half that time Walter Dinsmore was dead, and Mona Montague was alone
in the world.

We will pass over the next few days, with their mournful incidents and
the despairing grief of the beautiful girl, who had been so sadly bereft,
to the morning after the funeral ceremonies, when Mr. Graves, with Mr.
Dinsmore's unsigned will in his pocket, called to consult with Mona
regarding her uncle's affairs and her own plans for the future.

He found her in the library, looking sad and heavy-eyed from almost
incessant weeping, her manner languid and drooping.

She was engaged in trying to make up some accounts which the housekeeper
had requested her to attend to, hoping thus to distract her mind somewhat
from her grief.

She burst into tears as the lawyer kindly took her hand, for the sight of
him brought back to her so vividly the harrowing scenes of that last day
of her idolized uncle's life.

But she strove to control herself after a moment, and invited the
gentleman to be seated, when he immediately broached the subject of
his call.

"Perhaps you are aware, Miss Montague," he began, "that Mr. Dinsmore, on
the morning of his death, tried to make his will, in which he stated his
wish to leave you all his property; but he was unable to sign it;
consequently the document cannot stand, according to law. I was somewhat
surprised," Mr. Graves continued, looking thoughtful, "at his excessive
anxiety and distress regarding the matter, as he had previously given me
to understand that you were his only living relative. Still he might only
have wished to make assurance doubly sure. Do you know of any heirs
beside yourself?"

"No," Mona answered, "he had no relatives as near to him as I. There are,
I believe, one or two distant cousins residing somewhere in the South."

"Then you are of course the sole heir, and will have the whole of his
handsome fortune--the will would only have been a matter of form. Mr.
Dinsmore was a very rich man, Miss Montague, and I congratulate you upon
being the heiress to a large fortune," the lawyer continued, with hearty
sincerity in his tone.

But Mona looked, up at him with streaming eyes.

"Oh! but I would rather have my uncle back than all the wealth of the
world!" she cried, with quivering lips.

"True. I know that your loss is irreparable--one that no amount