"These papers and keepsakes of which he has told me are mine," she said to herself; "they belong by right to me, and I must—I will have them. That certificate, oh! if I could get but that, I could give myself to Ray without a scruple, and besides I could secure this property which Homer Forester has left to my mother, and then I need not go to Ray quite penniless. These things must be in either Louis Hamblin's or Mrs. Montague's possession—doubtless they are even now somewhere in the house in West Forty-ninth street. I shall tell Mr. Corbin immediately upon my return, and perhaps he will know of some way by which they can be compelled to give them up."
She fell to musing over the matter, little suspecting that the most important treasure of all—the contested marriage certificate—had already fallen into her lover's hands, and was at that moment safely locked in Mr. Corbin's safe, only awaiting her own and Mrs. Montague's return from the South to set her right before the world, both as to parentage and inheritance.
Louis Hamblin remained in Mrs. Montague's parlor until her return from the concert, brooding over the failure of his purpose, and trying to devise some scheme by which he could attain the desire of his heart.
He then gave her a faithful account of his interview with Mona, and they sat far into the night and plotted how best to achieve their object.
Mrs. Montague was now as eager to have Louis marry Mona as she had previously been determined to oppose it.
"I am bound that she shall never go into the Palmer family, if I can prevent it," she said, with a frowning brow. "If I am to be mistress of Mr. Palmer's home, I have no intention of allowing Mona Forester's child to be a blot on my future happiness."
"You are complimentary, Aunt Marg, in your remarks regarding my future wife," Louis sarcastically observed.
"I can't help it, Louis. I bear the girl no good-will, as you have known from the first, and you must make up your mind to accept matters as they are. You are determined to have her and I have given my consent to the marriage from purely selfish motives," Mrs. Montague returned, in a straightforward, matter-of-fact tone. "I would never have consented," she added, with a frown "if I had not feared that there is proof—besides what we possess—of Mona Forester's legal marriage, and that through it we might some time lose our fortune. I should be in despair to be obliged to give it up—life without plenty of money is not worth living, and I consider that I was very shrewd and fortunate in getting possession of that certificate and those other things."
"Did you bring them with you when you left home?"
"No; I never thought of them," Mrs. Montague responded, with a start and a look of anxiety. "It is the first time I ever came away from home without them; but after I received that telegram and letter I had plenty on my mind, I assure you—my chief aim was to get that girl out of New York, and away to some safe place where we could work out our scheme."