"You are really better," he smilingly observed as he reached her side; "you have had a severe siege as well as I."
"Then you have been sick?" Mona observed, but turning away from the intense look which he bent upon her.
"Indeed, I have. I have but just ventured out of my berth," he returned, shrugging his shoulders over painful memories.
"How is Mrs. Montague? I have not seen her since we left New Orleans,"
Mona inquired.
A peculiar look came into Louis Hamblin"s eyes.
"Well, she has been under the weather, too, and has not cared to see any one," he said. "She simply wants to be let alone, like most people who suffer from sea-sickness."
"That accounts for her absence and silence," thought Mona. Then she asked: "Is it not very strange that we do not see the banks of the river?
One would almost imagine that we were far out at sea."
Again that peculiar look swept over the young man"s face.
"And so we are," he quietly answered, after a momentary pause.
"What?" exclaimed Mona, in a startled tone, and turning her blanched face upon him with a look of terror.
"Do not be excited, Miss Montague," he coolly observed. "Aunt Margie simply took a sudden freak to go home by sea; she thought the voyage would be beneficial to her. She did not confide her plans to you, as she feared you would object and insist upon going home alone by rail."
Mona flushed hotly. She was very indignant that Mrs. Montague should have done such a thing without consulting her, and she deeply regretted that she had not insisted upon acting according to her own wishes.
She had no suspicion even now of the wretched deception that had been practiced upon her, but she did not now wonder so much that the woman had so persistently kept out of her way, and she felt so angry that she did not care to meet her again until they should land.
"When shall we get to New York?" she inquired, in a low, cold tone.
"We shall land some time this evening," Louis Hamblin evasively replied, but watching her with curious interest.
Mona gave utterance to a sigh of relief, but did not appear to notice how he had worded his sentence.
She believed that in a few hours more she would forever sever all connections with this bold, bad woman who had been guilty of so much wrong; that she would forever be freed from the society and attentions of her no less unprincipled and disagreeable nephew.
She resolved to go at once to Mr. Graves, then send word to Ray of her return, when she would reveal all that she had learned about herself, and all her troubles would be over. There was now no reason why she should not become his wife as soon as he desired.
She lay back in her chair and closed her eyes, thus signifying to Mr.
Hamblin that she did not wish to continue their conversation.
He moved away from her, but continued to watch her covertly, smiling now and then to himself as he thought of the developments reserved for her.
When the sun began to decline Mona arose to return to her stateroom, but she was still so weak she could not walk steadily.
The young man sprang at once to her side.
"Let me help you," he cried, offering his arm to her.
She was obliged to take it, much as she disliked to do so, and he a.s.sisted her to the door of her stateroom, where, touching his hat politely, he left her.
She lay down to rest for a while before gathering up her things preparatory to going ash.o.r.e, but the effort of coming down stairs had so wearied her that almost immediately she fell into a sound sleep.
CHAPTER XIV.
MONA FINDS FRIENDS.
When Mona awoke again it was dark.
The lamps were lighted in the saloon, however, and shone dimly into her stateroom through the gla.s.s in the door.
She at once became conscious that the steamer had stopped, while the confusion and bustle on deck told her that they had arrived in port and the vessel was being unloaded.
She hastily arose and dressed to go ash.o.r.e, and she had hardly completed her toilet when some one rapped upon her door.
Opening it she found Louis Hamblin standing outside.
"We have arrived," he said. "How soon can you be ready to go ash.o.r.e?"
"Immediately," Mona replied, then asked: "Where is Mrs. Montague?"
"Waiting for us in the carriage. I thought I would take one invalid at a time," he responded, smiling.
"What time is it, please?" the young girl asked, thoughtfully.
"Nearly ten o"clock. We are very late arriving to-night."
Mona looked blank at this reply, for she felt that it would be too late to go to Mr. Graves" that night. She would be obliged to go home with Mrs. Montague after all, and remain until morning. So she said nothing about her plans, but followed Louis above to the deck, out across the gangway to the pier, where a perfect babel prevailed, although at that moment, in the excitement of getting ash.o.r.e, she did not notice anything peculiar about it.
The young man hurried her to the carriage, which proved to be simply a transportation coach belonging to some hotel, and was filled with people.
"We have concluded to go to a hotel for to-night, since it is so late and the servants did not know of our coming," Louis explained, as he a.s.sisted his companion to enter the vehicle, which, however, was more like a river barge than a city coach.
"I do not see Mrs. Montague," Mona said, as she anxiously tried to scan the faces of the pa.s.sengers, and now noticed for the first time that most of them appeared to be foreigners, and were talking in a strange language.
"Can it be possible that I have made a mistake and got into the wrong carriage?" said Louis, with well-feigned surprise. "There were two going to the same hotel, and she must be in the other. She is safe enough, however, and it is too late for us to change now," he concluded, as the vehicle started.
Mona was very uncomfortable, but she could not well help herself, and so was obliged to curb her anxiety and impatience as best she could.
A ride of fifteen or twenty minutes brought them to the door of a large and handsome hotel, where they alighted, and Louis, giving her bag and wrap to the porter, who came bowing and smiling to receive them, told Mona to follow him into the house while he looked after the trunks.
Without suspecting the truth, although she was sure she had never been in that portion of the city before, the young girl obeyed, but as she stepped within the handsomely lighted entrance, she was both confused and alarmed by the fact that she could not understand a word of the language that was being spoken around her, while she now observed that the hotel had a strangely foreign air about it.
"There is something very wrong about this," she said to herself. "It does not seem like New York at all, and I do not like the idea of Mrs.
Montague keeping herself so aloof from me. Even if she were sick, or angry with me, she might at least have shown some interest in me. I do not like Louis Hamblin"s manner--he does not appear natural. I wish--oh, I wish I had gone home by rail. I am sure this is not New York. I am afraid there is something wrong."