she should not be living, her heirs are to inherit the money. I have made
every effort to find her--have been to the place where she was born--but
can get no trace of her--no one remembered such a person, and I could
not even learn whether she had ever married. I am afraid that the case
will prove to be a very complicated and vexatious one."

"I should think so," responded Mrs. Montague, who appeared to be deeply
interested in the story. "What was the girl's name?"

"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.