True Love's Reward Part 30

Ray felt that this was the very best thing that he could do.

He would gladly have gone himself to Havana, and longed to do so, but he was sure that if she should escape from her abductor--for so he regarded Louis Hamblin--Mona would be likely to return immediately to New York and to him. Thus he concluded it would be best to send the above message and await an answer from the consul, then if he could learn nothing about the couple he would go himself to search for Mona.

The day seemed interminable, and he was nearly distracted when night came, and he received no answer to his dispatch. He had not been able to apply himself to business all day, but wandered in and out of the store, looking wan and anxious, and almost ill.

This led his father to imagine that he was unhappy over his contemplated marriage--a conclusion which did not serve to make the groom-elect feel very comfortable.

On the next morning, however, Ray received the following cablegram:

"Young lady all right; sailed for New York yesterday, May 1st."

The relief which these few words afforded Ray's anxious heart can better be imagined than described.

Mona was true to herself and him, and he knew well enough that she never would have returned to New York if she had been guilty of any wrong. She would soon be with him, and then he would know all.

He ascertained what steamer left Havana on the first, and when it would be likely to arrive in New York, and as the hour drew near, he haunted the pier, that he might welcome his darling, and give her his care and protection the moment she arrived.

Meantime Mona, her mind relieved of all anxiety, was having a very pleasant pa.s.sage home with Justin Cutler and his sister.

The weather was delightful, the sea was calm, and none of them was sick, so they spent most of their time together upon deck, and Mona was so attracted toward her new friends that she confided to them much more of her history than she had at first done that evening in the Havana hotel.

In so doing she had mentioned the Palmer robbery and what she had discovered in connection with it while she was in St. Louis.

This led Mr. Cutler to relate his own experience with the crescents, and also the similar deception practiced upon Mrs. Vanderheck, and he mentioned that it was the opinion of the detective whom he had employed to work up the case, and whom Mona had met in St. Louis, that the same parties were concerned in all three operations.

"They are a very dexterous set of thieves, whoever they are," he remarked, while they were discussing the affair, "but though I never expect to see those crescents again, for I imagine that the stones have been unset and sold, it would afford me a great deal of satisfaction to see that woman brought to justice."

"I have the bogus crescents in my possession," Miss Cutler smilingly remarked to Mona. "Justin has given them to me to keep for him. Would you like to see them, dear?"

"Yes, indeed," Mona replied, "and I, too, hope that woman may yet be found. The affair is so like a romance, I am deeply interested in it."

Mr. Cutler colored slightly as she spoke of the romance of the experience, for he was still quite sensitive over the cruel deception that had been practiced upon him, although he had never confessed to any one how deeply and tenderly interested he had become in the captivating widow who had so successfully duped him.

When the steamer arrived in New York, almost the first person Mona saw was Ray, who stood upon the pier searching with anxious eyes among the pa.s.sengers for the face of his dear one.

A cry of glad surprise broke from her, and, s.n.a.t.c.hing her handkerchief from her pocket, she shook it vigorously to attract his attention, her lovely face all aglow with joy at his unexpected appearance.

He caught sight of the fluttering signal almost immediately, and his heart leaped within him as he looked into her beaming countenance. Truth and love and purity were stamped on every expressive feature.

He sprang across the gang-plank, and in less time than it takes to tell it he was beside her, while oblivious, in his great thankfulness for her safety, to the fact that others were observing them, he caught her close to him in a quick embrace.

"My darling!" he whispered. "Oh, you can never know how thankful I am to have you safe in my arms once more! What an escape you have had!"

"Why, Ray! how did you know?--who told you?" Mona exclaimed, astonished, as, with a blushing face, she gently freed herself from his embrace, although she still clung almost convulsively to his hand.

"I will tell you all about it later," he returned, in a low tone, and now recalled to the proprieties of life. "I can only say that I learned of the plot against you, and have been nearly distracted about you."

"Ah, Mrs. Montague told you that I had eloped with her nephew," the young girl said, and now losing some of her bright color, "but," lifting her clear, questioning eyes to her lover's face, "you did not believe it; you had faith in me?"

"All faith," he returned, his fingers closing more firmly over the small hand he held.

She thanked him with a radiant smile.

"But how did you know I would come home on this steamer?" she persisted, eager to know how he happened to be there to meet her.

"I cabled the American Consul to search for you, and render you a.s.sistance. He replied, telling me that you had already sailed for New York," Ray explained.

"That was thoughtful of you, dear," Mona said, giving him a grateful look, "but I found friends to help me. Come and let me introduce you to them."

She led him to Mr. Cutler and his sister, who had quietly withdrawn to a little distance--for, of course, they took in the situation at once--and performed the ceremony, when, to her surprise, Mr. Cutler cordially shook her lover by the hand, remarking, with his genial smile:

"Mr. Palmer and I have met before, but my sister has not had that pleasure, I believe."

Ray greeted them both with his habitual courtesy, and then in a frank, manly way, but with slightly heightened color, remarked:

"My appearance here perhaps needs some explanation, but it will be sufficient for me to explain that Miss Montague is my promised wife."

"I surmised as much, not long after making the young lady's acquaintance," Mr. Cutler remarked, with a roguish glance at Mona's pink cheeks and downcast eyes. "But," he added, with some curiosity, "it is a puzzle to me how you should know that she would arrive in New York on this steamer to-day."

Ray explained the matter to him, and then they all left the vessel together.

Mr. and Miss Cutler were to go to the Hoffman House, and invited Mona to be their guest during their stay in the city, but thanking them for their kindness, she said she thought it would be best for her to go directly to Mr. Graves, as she had business which she wished him to attend to immediately.

She also expressed again her grat.i.tude to them for their exceeding kindness to her, and promised to call upon them very soon, then bidding them an affectionate good-by she left the wharf with her lover.

They went for a drive in Central Park before going to Mr. Graves, for Ray was anxious to learn all the story of the plot against her and to talk over their own plans for the future.

He found it very difficult to restrain his anger as she told him of her interview with Louis Hamblin in New Orleans, and how she had been decoyed upon the steamer for Havana, with the other circ.u.mstances of the voyage, and her arrival there.

"The villain will need to be careful how he comes in my way after this,"

he said, with sternly compressed lips and a face that was white with anger. "I will not spare him--I will not spare either of those two plotters; but you shall never meet them again, my darling," he concluded, with tender compa.s.sion in his tones, as he realized how much she must have suffered with them.

"I shall have to go to West Forty-ninth street once more, for I have a good many things there, and shall have to attend to their removal myself," Mona returned, but looking as if she did not antic.i.p.ate much pleasure from the meeting with Mrs. Montague.

"Well, then, if you must go there, I will accompany you," Ray said, resolutely. "I will never trust you alone with that woman again. And now I have some good news to relate to you."

He told her then of his discovery of the marriage certificate, and what he had done with it, after which she gave him a graphic account of the discoveries which she had made in the secret drawer of the royal mirror.

"How very strange, my darling," he exclaimed, when she concluded; "how nicely your discovery fits in with mine, and now every difficulty will be smoothed out of your way, only," with an arch glance, "I am almost afraid that I shall be accused of being a fortune-hunter when it becomes known what a wealthy heiress I have won."

Mona smiled at his remark, but she was very glad that she was not to go to him empty-handed.

"And, dear," Ray continued, more gravely, "I am going to claim my wife immediately, for, in spite of the great wealth which will soon be yours, you are a homeless little body, and I feel that you ought to be under my protection."

"Ah, Ray, it will be very nice to have a home of our own," Mona breathed, as she slipped her hand confidingly into his, and then they began to plan for it as they drove down town.

Arriving at the house of Mr. Graves, they were fortunate in finding both that gentleman and his wife at home, and Mona received a most cordial welcome, while the kind-hearted lawyer became almost jubilant upon learning all the facts regarding her parentage and how comparatively easy it would now be to prove it.

It was arranged that Mona and Mr. Graves should meet Ray and Mr. Corbin at the office of the latter on the next morning, when they would all thoroughly discuss these matters and decide upon what course to pursue in relation to them.