s to angle for my future
step-son."

"Madame--" began Mona, indignantly.

"We will not discuss the matter further," Mrs. Montague interposed,
imperiously; "you can go now, but be sure to have my traveling dress
ready by nine o'clock in the morning."

Mona went out, and forced herself to shut the door after her without
making the slightest sound, although every nerve in her body was tingling
with indignation and resentment, to which she longed to give some outward
expression.

But for one thing, she would have faced the coarse, rude woman, and
proclaimed that she was already the promised wife of Raymond Palmer, and
had a perfect right to receive his attentions whenever and wherever she
chose.

That secret of the desertion of her mother haunted her, however, and she
was bound to curb herself and bear everything for three months longer,
while she would diligently apply herself to the task before her.

She retired immediately, but she could not go to sleep until she had
relieved her overcharged heart of its bitterness and passion in a burst
of weeping.

The next morning early Ray and his father were on their way to New York,
and ten o'clock found them seated in the private court-room, where Mrs.
Vanderheck was to answer the charges against her.

Money will accomplish a great deal, and in this case it had secured the
privilege of a private examination, before a police justice, who would
decide whether the suspected culprit should be held for the grand jury.

Immediately upon the arrival of the Palmers, Detective Rider came to
them, accompanied by a gentleman whom he introduced as Justin Cutler,
Esq., of Chicago.

They all took seats together, and presently a door opened to admit Mrs.
Vanderheck, who was attended by her husband and counsel, and who was
richly attired in a close-fitting black velvet robe, and wore magnificent
solitaires in her ears, besides a cluster of blazing stones at her
throat.

If she was the adventuress whom the officials were searching for, she was
certainly bringing a bold front to the contest in thus parading her booty
before their very eyes.

Her husband was an elderly gentleman, who appeared to be in feeble
health, but who conducted himself with dignity and self-possession.

The case was opened by Mr. Cutler's counsel, who told the story of the
purchase of the spurious crescents in Chicago, and affirmed that they had
been found upon the person of the party under arrest.

Mrs. Van