Susie Leades came to her almost every day and tried to cheer her. Mona appreciated her kind efforts, and was somewhat comforted by them, while she also had many letters of sympathy and condolence from her numerous friends.
But to her great surprise Ray Palmer had never once come to inquire for her; neither had he written her one word to tell her that he felt for her in this bitter trial.
She was both grieved and hurt over his apparent indifference, especially after the request he had made on the evening of their attendance at the opera, and the many unmistakable signs of regard which he had betrayed for her at that time.
She was brooding over this one afternoon when Mr. Graves, the lawyer and her future guardian, was announced.
He looked serious and troubled; indeed, he was so unlike himself that
Mona observed it, and asked him if he was ill.
"No, Miss Mona, I am not really ill, but I am laboring under trouble and anxiety enough to almost make me so," he responded, as he took her extended hand and gazed down upon her own colorless face with a sorrowful, wistful look.
"Trouble?" she repeated, with a quivering lip. "Oh, trouble is so much harder to bear than illness."
"My poor child, your remark only makes my burden all the heavier," the gentleman returned, in an unsteady voice. "Alas, my trouble is all on your account, for I am the bearer of ill news for you."
"Ill news—to me?" exclaimed the young girl, in a wondering tone. "After losing Uncle Walter, it does not seem as if any trouble could move me; nothing can compare with that," she concluded, passionately.
"Very true; but there are other troubles in life besides death," said Mr.
Graves, gently; "such as—the loss of fortune, poverty—"