"Montague! Montague!" Mr. Palmer repeated reflectively, while he said to himself: "That is the name of Ray's little lady-love; perhaps this woman is a relative, and the girl has gone to live with her. I must find out about that." Then, with this thought in view, he added, aloud; "Introduce me, will you, Merrill?" His host glanced roguishly at him, and a smile of amusement hovered about his lips as he replied: "Certainly, if you wish, but I give you fair warning that she is a dangerous party, and especially so to widowers--there are a dozen, more or less, who have already had their wings thoroughly singed." Mr. Palmer smiled with an air of calm superiority. "Well, Merrill, I admit that she is as fine-looking a woman as I have ever seen," he said, "but I believe that I am proof against the blandishments of the fair sex upon principle; for," more gravely, "I have never had any desire to change my condition since I lost my wife. My reason for requesting the introduction was, I thought Mrs. Montague might be able to give me some information regarding another lady of the same name." "All right; an introduction you shall have; but pray take heed to my warning, all the same, and look out for yourself," was the laughing rejoinder. "Ah," as he bowed graciously to the lady approaching them, "we are very glad to be favored with your presence this evening, and now allow me to present a friend; Mrs. Montague, Mr. Palmer." The brilliant woman shot one sweeping glance out of her expressive eyes at the gentleman and then extended her faultlessly gloved hand to him in cordial greeting. "I am very glad to make Mr. Palmer's acquaintance," she said, graciously, "although," she added, with a charming smile, "I cannot look upon him quite as a stranger, for I have friends who frequently speak of him, and in a way that has made one wish to know him personally." Mr. Palmer flushed slightly as he bowed in acknowledgment of such high praise, and remarked that he felt himself greatly honored. Mrs. Montague then adroitly changed the tenor of the conversation, and kept him chatting some time, before he thought of Mona again, and when he did, he hardly knew how to broach the subject to his companion. "Have you resided long in New York, Mrs. Montague?" he inquired, after a slight pause in their conversation. "Only about six months, but, Mr. Palmer, during that time, I have found your city a most delightful one, socially," the lady returned. "I understand that Mrs. Montague is quite a favorite in society, which accounts, in a measure, perhaps, for her own enjoyment of its people," the gentleman gallantly responded. Mrs. Montague flushed slightly and lowered her white lids, modestly, for an instant, and Mr. Palmer continued: "Allow me to ask, Mrs. Montague, if you ever met Mr. Walter Dinsmore?"