"Mona Forester."

"Mona Forester!" repeated the woman, in a startled tone, and growing as white as her handkerchief. "I didn't know she had a relative in the world, except--"

She abruptly paused, for she had been thrown entirely off her guard, and had committed herself, just as the wily lawyer intended and suspected.

A flash of triumph gleamed in his eyes for an instant at the success of his ruse.

"Ah! did you ever know of such a person?" he demanded, eagerly, and with well-feigned surprise.

"I--I knew of--a girl by that name before I was married," Mrs. Montague reluctantly admitted, and beginning to recover her composure.

"Where did she reside?"

"She was born in Trenton, New Jersey, I believe," was the evasive reply.

"Yes, my papers so state--and she must be the same person," said Mr.

Corbin, in a tone of conviction. "But that is very meager information.

Was Trenton your home also?"

"No, I lived in New York until my marriage."

"Was Miss Forester ever married?"

"Yes."

"Ah! how fortunate that I happened to mention this circ.u.mstance to you this evening!" exclaimed the lawyer, with great apparent satisfaction, but ignoring the evident reluctance of his companion to give him information. "Perhaps you can give more particulars. Whom did the lady marry?"

"Don't ask me anything about her, Mr. Corbin," Mrs. Montague cried, excitedly, and with an angry gesture. "The girl ruined my life--she loved the man I loved and--I hated her accordingly."

"But surely you can have no objection to telling me what you know of her history," returned Mr. Corbin, with a.s.sumed surprise. "I have this case to settle, and I simply wish to find the woman or her heirs, in order to do my duty and carry out the instructions of the will. It would a.s.sist me greatly if you could tell me where I might find her," he concluded, in an appealing tone.

"She is dead--she died more than eighteen years ago."

"Ah! where did she die?"

"Abroad--in London."

"Did she leave any heirs?"

"She died in giving birth to her only child."

"Did the child live?"

"I--believe so."

"Was it a son or a daughter?"

"The latter."

"What became of her--where is she now?"

"I do not know--I do not care!" were the vicious words which burst from the woman's white lips, and Mr. Corbin saw that she was greatly excited, while everything that she had said thus far went to corroborate the statements Mona had made to him regarding her mother.

"But, my dear madame," Mr. Corbin said, soothingly, "while I do not like to trouble you, or recall painful memories, cannot you see that it is my duty to sift this matter and avail myself of whatever information I can get? If Miss Forester was married and had a child, that child, if living, is Homer Forester's heir, and I must find her. Now, if you know anything about these people that will a.s.sist me in my search, it becomes your duty to reveal it to me."

"I cannot; I do not know of anything that will a.s.sist you," sullenly returned Mrs. Montague, who was mentally reproaching herself in the most bitter manner for having allowed herself to be taken so unawares and to betray so much.

"Whom did the lady marry?" persisted Mr. Corbin.

"I will not tell you!" pa.s.sionately exclaimed his companion. "Oh, why have I told you anything? Why did I acknowledge that I even knew Mona Forester? I should not have done so, but you surprised the truth from me, and I will tell you nothing more. I hated the girl, and though I have never seen her, I hate the child on her account, and I would not lift even a finger to help her in any way."

"Are you not unreasonably vindictive, Mrs. Montague?" mildly asked Mr.

Corbin.

"Unreasonable or not, I mean what I say, and Homer Forester's money may be scattered to the four winds of heaven for any effort that I will make for Mona Forester's child," was the dogged response.

"Do you not see that I must learn the truth?" the lawyer asked, with some sternness, "and though I am averse to using threats to a lady, if you will not tell me voluntarily I shall be obliged to use means to compel you to reveal what you know."

"Compel me!" repeated Mrs. Montague, confronting him with haughty mien.

"You cannot do that."

"But I can, Mrs. Montague," Mr. Corbin positively a.s.serted. "Since you have acknowledged so much, and it is evident that you could reveal more, you can be compelled, by law, to do so under oath."

"You would not dare to adopt such stringent measures with me, after all the business that I have thrown into your hands," the woman said, sharply, but growing white about the mouth.

"My duty is just as obligatory to one client as to another. I am under as much obligation to carry out the conditions of Homer Forester's will as I am to be faithful to your interests," the lawyer replied, with inflexible integrity.

"Then you will no longer be faithful to me--you will transact no more business for _me_," Mrs. Montague a.s.serted, with angry brow and compressed lips.

"Very well, if that is your decision I must submit to it," was the imperturbable response. "And now, madame, I ask you, once for all, to tell me the name of the man whom Mona Forester married?"

"I will not."

"Then let _me_ tell _you_ what conclusion I have drawn from what I have learned during this interview," said Mr. Corbin, as he leaned forward and looked straight into the woman's flashing eyes. "You have said you hated her because she ruined your life--because she loved the man you loved.

You have refused to tell me the name of that man. You can have but one reason in thus withholding this information--that motive is fear; therefore, I infer that Mona Forester was the _first wife of your husband--her child was your husband's daughter_."

"Prove it, then!" cried his companion, with a scornful, though nervous, laugh. "Find the marriage certificate--find the witnesses who saw them married, the clergyman who performed the ceremony, the church register where their names are recorded, if you can."

"I believe they will be found in good time," confidently a.s.serted Mr.

Corbin, as he arose the second time to leave; "and, madame, if such proofs are found do you comprehend what the result will be? Not only will Mona Forester's child inherit the fortune left by Homer Forester, but also the bulk of your deceased husband's property."

"Never! for no one in this world can prove that Mona Forester was ever legally married, and--I defy you to do your worst," hoa.r.s.ely cried Mrs.

Montague, with lips that were almost livid, while she trembled visibly with mingled excitement, fear, and anger.

But the gentleman had no desire to discuss the matter further. He simply bade her a courteous good-evening, and then quietly left the house.

"It is the strangest affair that I ever had anything to do with," he muttered, as he walked briskly down the street. "The girl's story must be true, for it tallies exactly with the woman's admissions this evening.

There must be proof somewhere, too. Can it be possible," he went on, with a start, "that they are in Mrs. Montague's hands? If so, she is liable to destroy them, and thus plunge my pretty little client into endless trouble. It is strange that her uncle, Dinsmore, could not have been more sensible and left some definite information regarding the child. But I am going to do my best for her, and though I never had quite so mysterious a case before, I believe the very obscurity which invests it only adds interest to it."