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. Horace Graves was my uncle's lawyer; he will tell you that I am his
niece," she faltered, with white lips.

"My dear young lady, I know Mr. Graves, and that he is a reliable man,"
Mr. Corbin observed; "but a hundred people might assert that you were Mr.
Dinsmore's niece, and it would not prove anything. Don't you know that to
satisfy the law upon any point there must be indisputable proof
forthcoming; there must be some written record--something tangible to
demonstrate it, or it amounts to nothing? You may be the niece of Mr.
Dinsmore; you may be the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richmond Montague; this
may be the portrait of Miss Mona Forester; but the facts would have to be
established before your claim could be recognized and the property
bequeathed to Miss Forester made over to you."

"Oh," cried Mona, in deep distress, "what, then, shall I do? I do not
care so much about the property as I do about learning more about my
mother. I will tell you frankly," she went on, with burning cheeks and
quivering lips, "that I know there is some mystery connected with her