“Very well.  I will listen to what you wish to say, but be kind enough to be brief, for I have no desire to prolong this interview beyond what is absolutely necessary for your purpose,” she said, with freezing dignity.

“Well, then,” Louis Hamblin began, “I have known who you were ever since you came into Aunt Margie’s house as a seamstress.”

Then he went on to explain how he learned it, and Mona, remembering the incident but too well, saw that it would be best to quietly accept the fact of his knowledge.

“Does Mrs. Montague also know?” she asked, with breathless eagerness.

“She suspected you at first,” he evasively answered, “but you so diplomatically replied to her questions—­you were so self-possessed under all circumstances, and especially so when one day you found a picture of your mother, that she was forced to believe your strange resemblance to Mona Forester only a coincidence.”

CHAPTER XI.

MONA IN A TRYING POSITION.

Mona breathed more freely, for she believed from his evasive reply that Mrs. Montague did not now believe her to be Mona Forester’s child.

“I beg you will not tell her,” she said, impulsively, and then instantly regretted having made the request.

The young man’s face lighted.

If they could have a common secret he believed that he should make some headway in his wooing.

“That will depend upon how kind you are to me,” he said, meaningly.

Mona’s head went up haughtily again.  His presumption, his assurance, both annoyed and angered her.

He affected not to notice her manner, and asked: 

“What was your object, Miss Montague, in coming into my aunt’s family under an assumed name?”

Mona thought a moment before replying; then she felt that since he already knew so much, it would do no harm to tell him the truth.

“I had no intention at first of going anywhere under an assumed name,” she said, gravely.  “I applied at an employment bureau for a situation as seamstress, and this position was obtained for me.  I did not even know the name of the woman who had engaged me, until I entered Mrs. Montague’s house.  When I learned the truth, I was tempted to leave at once; but the desire to learn more than I already knew regarding my parentage made me bold to brave discovery, and remain at least for a while, and so upon the spur of the moment I gave the name of Ruth Richards—­Ruth is my middle name, and Richards very nearly like that of the man who married my mother—­”

“Who married your mother?” questioned Louis Hamblin, in a mocking tone.

“Yes; they were legally married.  I at least know that much,” said Mona, positively, determined to make him think she fully believed it.

“How did you learn so much?”

“My uncle assured me of the fact only the day before he died.”