that morning started for Oakland for the day, but changed his mind and
returned while I was out, was sitting in a small alcove leading out of
the library, and had heard the whole conversation.

"Of course there was a terrible scene, and he obliged me to confess
everything, although he had heard enough to enable him to comprehend the
whole, and then he sternly repudiated me; but, scorning the scandal which
would attend proceedings for a divorce, he gave me a meager stipend for
separate maintenance, and told me he never wished to look upon my face
again. He settled his business, sold his property, and returned to New
York with you and your nurse, leaving me to my fate. He forbade me to
live under the name of Dinsmore, but I would not resume my maiden
name, and so adopted that of Mrs. Richmond Montague. But I still
treasured that certificate and my own also, for I meant, if I should
outlive him, to claim his fortune, and also kept myself pretty well
posted regarding his movements.

"Shortly after our separation my only sister died, and her son, Louis,
was thus left destitute, and an orphan. I believed that I could make him
useful to me, so I adopted him. We have roved a great deal, for we have
had to eke out my limited income by the use of our wits. My best game,
though, was with the crescents which Miss Dinsmore gave me as a wedding
present, and which I had duplicated several times. Early last fall we
came to New York, for in spite of all the past I still loved Walter
Dinsmore, and longed to be near him.

"I felt as if the fates had favored me when I heard that he had died
without making his will, and I knew from the fact that you were known
only as his niece, Miss Mona Montague, that you must still be in
ignorance of your real relationship toward him. So it was comparatively
easy for me to establish my claim to his property. I did not appear
personally in the matter, for I was leading quite a brilliant career here
as Mrs. Richmond Montague, and I did not wish to figure as the discarded
wife of Walter Dinsmore, so no one save Mr. Corbin even suspected my
identity. If Walter Dinsmore had never written that miserable confession,
or if I had at once turned all his property into money and gone abroad,
or to California, I need never have been brought to this. As matters
stand now, however, I suppose you will claim everything," she concluded,
with a sullen frown.

Mona thought that if the law had its course with her she wou