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.