She sprang toward it, and turned the handle.

It was locked, of course. She told herself she might have known it would be, but she had acted upon an uncontrollable impulse.

But as she released her hold upon the k.n.o.b she thought she heard some one moving about within the other room.

Perhaps the gentleman had his wife with him, and impelled by a wild hope, Mona knocked upon a panel to attract attention, and the next moment she was sure she caught the rustle of skirts as some one glided toward her.

Putting her lips to the key-hole, she said, in a low, appealing tone:

"Oh! can you speak English, French, or German? Pray answer me."

She thought she had never heard sweeter music than when the clear, gentle voice of a woman replied:

"I can speak English, but no other language."

"Oh! I am so glad!" almost sobbed Mona. "Please put your ear close to the key-hole, and let me tell you something. I dare not talk loud for fear of being overheard. I am a young girl, a little more than eighteen years old, and I am in a fearful extremity. Will you help me?"

"Certainly, if you are in need of help," returned the other voice.

"Oh, thank you! thank you!" cried Mona, and then in low, rapid tones she briefly told her story to the listener on the other side of the door.

When she had concluded, the woman said, wonderingly:

"It is the most dreadful thing I ever heard of. My brother, with whom I am traveling, will soon be back. We are to leave early in the morning, and he has gone down to the office to settle our bill and make necessary arrangements. I will tell him your story, and we will see what can be done for you."

Mona again thanked her, but brokenly, and then overcome by this unexpected succor she sank p.r.o.ne upon the floor weeping pa.s.sionately; the tension on her nerves had given way and her overwrought feelings had to have their way.

Presently a hand touched the key in her door.

Startled beyond measure, she sprang to it, feeling sure that Louis Hamblin stood without.

"Do not dare to open this door," she cried, authoritatively.

"Certainly not; I simply wished to ask if you have everything you wish for the night," the young man returned, in perfectly courteous tones.

"Yes."

"Very well, then; good-night. I hope you will rest well," he said, then drawing the key from the lock, he pa.s.sed on, and the next moment Mona heard a door shut across the hall.

It was scarcely five minutes later when she heard some one enter the room next to hers, and her heart leaped again with hope.

Then she heard a gentleman and lady conversing in low tones, and knew that her story was being repeated to one who had the power, if he chose to use it, to save her from her persecutor.

A little later she heard the gentleman go to a window and open it.

Then there came a gentle tap upon the door, and the lady said to the eager ear at the key-hole:

"There is a little balcony outside our window and another outside yours with only a narrow s.p.a.ce between. My brother says if you will go out upon yours he will help you across to us, then we can talk more freely together, and decide upon the best way to help you. Turn down your light first, however, so that no one outside will see you."

"Yes, yes," breathed Mona, eagerly, and then putting out her light, she sprang away to the window.

She raised it as cautiously as she could, crept out upon the narrow iron balcony, and found a tall, dark figure looming up before her upon the other.

"Give me your hands," said the gentleman, in a full, rich voice that won the girl's heart at once, "then step upon the railing, and trust yourself entirely to me; you will not fall."

Mona unhesitatingly reached out her hands to him; he grasped them firmly; she stepped upon the railing, and the next moment was swung safely over the s.p.a.ce between the two balconies, and stood beside her unknown friend.

He went before her through the window, and a.s.sisted her into the darkened room; the curtain was then lowered, and the gas turned up, and Mona found herself in the presence of a tall, handsome man of about thirty-three years, and a gentle, attractive-looking woman a few years his senior.

CHAPTER XV.

MONA'S ESCAPE.

The gentleman and lady both regarded the young girl with curious and searching interest as she stood, flushed and panting from excitement, in the center of the room beneath the blazing chandelier.

"Sit here, Miss Montague," said the gentleman, pulling forward a low rocker for her, "but first," he added, with a pleasant smile, "allow me to introduce myself. My name is Cutler--Justin Cutler, and this lady is my sister, Miss Marie Cutler. Now, it is late--we will waive all ceremony, so tell us at once about your trouble, and then we will see if we cannot help you out of it."

Mona sat down and briefly related all that had occurred in connection with her trip since she left New York, together with some of the circ.u.mstances which she believed had made Mrs. Montague and Louis Hamblin so resolute to force her into a marriage with the latter.

Her companions listened to her with deep interest, and it was plain to be seen that all their warmest sympathies were enlisted in her cause.

Mr. Cutler expressed great indignation, and declared that Louis Hamblin merited the severest sentence that the law could impose, but, of course, he knew that nothing could be done to bring him to justice in that strange country; so, after considering the matter for a while, he concluded that the best way to release Mona from her difficulties would be by the use of strategy.

"We are to leave on a steamer for New York to-morrow morning, and you shall go with us," Mr. Cutler remarked, "and if we can get you away from the hotel and on board the boat without young Hamblin's knowledge, you will be all right, and there will be no disagreeable disturbance or scandal to annoy you. Even should he discover your flight, and succeed in boarding the vessel before she sails, he will be helpless, for a quiet appeal to the captain will effectually baffle him. But how about your baggage?" he asked in conclusion.

"My trunk is in my room," Mona returned.

"Of course you must have that," said Mr. Cutler; "the only difficulty will be in getting it away without exciting suspicion. We must have this door between these rooms opened by some means. I wonder if the key to ours would fit the lock."

He arose immediately and went to try it, but it would not work.

"No. I did not expect our first effort would succeed," he smilingly remarked, as he saw Mona's face fall. "There is one way that we can do if all other plans fail," he added, after thinking a moment; "you can go back to the other room and unpack your trunk, when I could easily remove it through the window, and it could be repacked in here; but that plan would require considerable time and labor, and shall be adopted only as a last resort. But wait a minute."

He sprang to his feet, and disappeared through the window, and the next moment they heard him moving softly about in the other room.

Presently he returned, but looking grave and thoughtful.

"I hoped I might find a key somewhere in there," he explained, "but the door bolts on that side. There should, then, be a key to depend upon for this side. I wonder--"

He suddenly seized a chair, placed it before the door, stepped upon it, and reached up over the fanciful molding above it, slipping his hand along behind it.

"Aha!" he triumphantly exclaimed all at once, "I have it!" and he held up before their eager gaze a rusty and dusty iron key.

A moment later the door was unlocked, and swung open between the two rooms.