act of violence, to
avenge her; but let me assure you, Miss Montague, that that high-toned
gentleman never soiled his hands with blood; and if that was your
thought--"

"It is no matter what I thought," Mona hastily, but coldly, interposed,
for she had no intention of confessing any such suspicion; but she was
greatly relieved to learn that it had no foundation, and she now bitterly
reproached herself for having even momentarily entertained a thought of
anything that had been so foreign to her uncle's noble nature.

"To go back to what we were speaking of before," she continued, gravely,
"will you furnish me with tangible proof of my mother's marriage? I know
that she eloped with Richmond Montague, that they lived together for
several months, when he suddenly deserted her, and that there is some
mystery connected with that event--something which my uncle hesitated or
feared to tell me. I know, too, that he was very anxious to reveal
something more to me when he lay dying, and could not, because he had
been stricken speechless. But for that fact, I believe I should not
now be obliged to ask this favor of you," she concluded, flushing.

"Does it gall you so much, to ask a favor of me?" he inquired, bitterly.
"But why," he went on, without waiting for a reply, "are you so
exceedingly anxious to obtain this proof? Do you expect by the use
of it to secure to yourself the property left by your father? Was that
your object in remaining in my aunt's family under an assumed name?"

"No!" Mona vehemently returned. "I would not touch one dollar of his
money. I would scorn to profit by so much as a penny of the fortune left
by the man who deserted his wife in her sad extremity, and then, when
death freed him from the tie which bound him to her, married a woman whom
he did not love; who possessed so little of fatherly instinct in his
nature, that he never acknowledged his child, nor betrayed the slightest
interest in or affection for her. I would never own him for such a
purpose; while, were it not for the sake of establishing my mother's
honor, I would even repudiate the name I bear," she concluded, looking so
proud and beautiful in her righteous scorn that the young man gazed upon
her with admiration.

"You are very proud-spirited," he remarked; then, with a sly smile, "but
as for the name you affect to so despise, it would be an easy matter to
change it."

Mona colored at this observation, not because she gave a thought to