True Love's Reward. Mrs. Georgie Sheldon
she entered, and politely inquired her business.
She asked to see a member of the firm, and at the same time produced the slip which she had cut from the paper.
The clerk's face lighted as he saw it, and his manner at once betrayed deep interest in the matter.
"Ah, yes," he said, affably; "please walk this way. Mr. Corbin is in and will be glad to see you."
He led the way to a private office, and, throwing open the door, respectfully remarked to some one within:
"A lady to see you, sir, about the Forester business." Then turning to
Mona, he added: "This is Mr. Corbin, miss."
A gentleman, who was sitting before a desk, at once arose and came eagerly forward, scanning Mona's face with great earnestness.
"Have a chair, if you please, Miss——. Be kind enough to tell me what I shall call you."
"My name is Mona Montague," the young girl replied, a slight flush suffusing her cheek beneath his keen glance.
The gentleman started as she spoke it, and regarded her more closely than before.
"Miss Mona Montague!" he repeated, with a slight emphasis on the last name; "and you have called to answer the advertisement which recently appeared in the papers. What can you tell me about Miss Mona Forester?"
"She was my mother, sir," Mona replied, as she seated herself in the chair offered her. "At least," she added, "my mother's name was Mona Forester before her marriage."
"Well, then, young lady, if you can prove that the Mona Forester, for whom we have advertised, was your mother, there is a snug little sum of money awaiting your disposal," the gentleman smilingly remarked.
Mona looked astonished. She had scarcely given a thought to reaping any personal advantage, as had been hinted in the advertisement, from the fact of being Mona Forester's child. Her chief desire and hope had been to prove her mother's identity, and to learn something more, if possible, of her personal history.
She was somewhat excited by the information, but removing the wrapper from her picture, she arose and laid it before Mr. Corbin, remarking:
"This is a portrait of Mona Forester, and she was my mother."
Mr. Corbin took the crayon and studied the beautiful face intently for a few moments; then turning his glance again upon his visitor, he said, in a tone of conviction:
"There can be no doubt that you and the original of this picture are closely united by ties of consanguinity, for your resemblance to her is very striking. You spoke in the past tense, however, so I suppose the lady is not living."
"No, sir; she died at the time of my birth," Mona answered, sadly.
"Ah! that was very unfortunate for you," Mr. Corbin remarked, in a tone of sympathy. "You gave your name as Mona Montague, so, of course, Miss Forester must have married a gentleman by that name. May I ask—ah—is he living?"
"No, sir, he is not."
"Will you kindly give me his whole name?" Mr. Corbin now asked, while his eyes had a gleam of intense interest within their dark depths.
"Richmond Montague."
Again the lawyer started, and a look of astonishment passed over his features.
"Where have you lived, Miss Montague, since the death of your parents?" he inquired.
"Here in New York, with my uncle."
"Ah! and who was your uncle, if you please?" and the man seemed to await her reply with almost breathless interest.
"Mr. Dinsmore—Walter Dinsmore."
The lawyer sat suddenly erect, and drew in a long breath, while his keen eyes seemed to be trying to read the girl's very soul.
He did not speak for nearly a minute; then he said, with his usual composure:
"So, then, you are the niece of Walter Dinsmore, Esq., who died recently, and whose property was claimed by a—a wife who had lived separate from him for a good many years."
Mona flushed hotly at this remark. It seemed almost like a stain upon her uncle's fair name to have his domestic affairs spoken of in this way, and she had been very sore over the revelation that he had had a discarded wife living.
"Yes, sir," she briefly responded, but with an air of dignity that caused a gleam of amusement to leap to the lawyer's eyes.
"Well—it is very queer," he remarked, musingly, while his eyes traveled back and forth between the picture he held in his hands and the face of the beautiful girl before him.
Mona looked a trifle surprised—she could not understand what was "queer" in the fact that she was Walter Dinsmore's niece.
"I suppose," resumed Mr. Corbin, after another season of reflection, during which he looked both grave and perplexed, "that you have the proofs of all that you claim? You can prove that you are the daughter of Mona Forester and—Richmond Montague?"
Again Mona blushed, and hot tears of grief and shame rushed to her eyes, as, all at once, it flashed into her mind that her errand there would be a fruitless one, for she was utterly powerless to prove anything, while the peculiar emphasis which Mr. Corbin had almost unconsciously used in speaking of her father made her very uncomfortable. She had hoped to learn more than she had to reveal, and that her strong resemblance to her mother's picture would be sufficient to prove the relationship between them; but now she began to fear that it would not.
"What proofs do I need?" she asked, in a voice that was not quite steady.
"The marriage certificate of the contracting parties, or some witness of the ceremony, besides some reliable person who can identify you as their child," was the business-like response.
"Then I can prove nothing," Mona said, in a weary tone, "for I have no certificate, no letters, not even a scrap of writing penned by either my father or my mother."
A peculiar expression swept over Mr. Corbin's face at this statement, and
Mona caught sight of it.
"What could it mean?" she asked herself, with a flash of anger that was quite foreign to her amiable disposition. "Did the man imagine her to be an impostor, or did he suspect that there might have been no legal bond between her parents?"
This latter thought made her tingle to her fingertips, and aroused all her proud spirit.
"I can at least prove that I am Walter Dinsmore's niece," she added, lifting her head with a haughty air, while her thoughts turned to Mr. Graves, her uncle's lawyer. He at least knew and could testify to the fact. "He took me," she continued, "three days after mother's death, and I lived with him from that time until he died."
"Ah! and your mother was Mr. Dinsmore's sister?" questioned Mr. Corbin.
"Yes. I always supposed, until within a few days, that she was his own sister," Mona said, thinking it best to be perfectly open in her dealings with the lawyer; "that her name was Mona Dinsmore; but only this week I learned that it was Mona Forester, so, of course, she must have been a half-sister."
"Well, if you can prove what you have stated it may lead to further developments," said Mr. Corbin, kindly. "Let me examine your proofs, and then I shall know what to do next."
A sudden fear smote Mona—a great shock made her heart almost cease its beating at the lawyer's request.
What proofs had she for him to examine? How could she establish the absolute fact?
It was true that her uncle had authorized a will to be made leaving all his property to his "beloved niece," but he had not been able to sign it, and it of course amounted to nothing. Must even this relationship be denied her in law? Oh, why had he not been more careful in regard to her interests? It was very hard—it was very humiliating to have her identity thus doubted.
"Mr.