The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-02-21

was putting on my things to go, when {
message was brought to me that some one
wished to see me on business Immediately
Guess my surprise at finding the drawing
room in the possession of serious-lookins
lady in the uniform of hospital sister.
{" "sThere must be some mistake, | said
MY friend with whom | am staying il
not at home, but if you could explain the
occasion of your visit to me
Certainly, said the sister gravely, q
have come FROM Crescent at the re
quest of Mr.. Gore. l believe you had ar
ranged to lunch with Mrs. Gore to-day p
asHad arranged was just getting
ready to go there now,' said. Has she
surely she has not met with any acci
dent p The sister shook her head.
/ awe thought you did not know, she
said Poor Mrs Gore I
asNot i'll 2 | asked, frightened at the
sad expression of her kind face.
g Her physical health had never been
better, said the sister; sbut her mind =
eAlas it was too true, although at first
with that memory of our recognition of the
preceding day SO fresh in my mind, | could
almost have been as ready to suspect Harry
Gore and the sedate lady before me of a
conspiracy as Mrs Gore of mental unsound
ness. You will easily realize what ter
rible shock this news gave me, totally un,
prepared as I was for anything of the sort
i "sWe thought you could not have
known, repeated the sister, for you might
pass several hours, nay even days, in Mrs
Cores society without detecting the least
symptoms of insanity, provided certain sub
jects are not touched upon
"sAnd what are these subjects /
ventured to ask Tt all seems so very sad
and strange / can hardly believe it.
g Il dare say you may have noticed, If
you were intimate with Mrs. Gore, her ex-
traordinary fondness for jewelry?"
e.Ah s"A
ssShe herself owned some very hand
some ornaments given to her by her hus-
band, and you will easily fancy his distress
when one day these were missing. Every
effort was made to trace them, but in vain.
and the search had just been allowed tc
drop when the interest was suddenly re-
viyed A lady staying at Manibere last
year had very handsome set of pearls
stolen from her bedroom But you look
quite pale. I am afraid this sudden news
has made you ILL., ae
esI am not i'll, [ said, but it certainly
has given me rather shock But pray
90 on. You do not know how deeply /
am interested
within fortnight . continued the sis
ter, there came letter from London
ieweler to say that the jewels (which had
been fully described in several of the Lon
don papers, had been offered to him fol-
sale by Mrs Gore. Strange to-Hsay, the
ornaments once in her possession, the ex-
traordinary cunning of insanity seemed tc
have deserted her. When taxed with heI
conduct by her grief-stricken husband, she
made no attempt to deny it, Nor did the
remonstrances and even tears of her heart
broken parents succeed in awakening IN
her the slightest sense, of shame for what
in her irresponsible condition it would be
absurd to call crime. n
aWell, there is little more TO say. Poor
Mrs Gore, when did 90 to see her, ex-
hibited no traces of mental alienation in
her manner. Always restless and impul-
sive, unless | had been warned to expect
it, her natural excitability would not have
attracted my particular attention. And l
need not tell you that avoided with spe-
cial care the subjects of conversation cal
culated to bring on the fearful paroxysms
of excitement from which she occasionally
suffered.
GAS to any connection between my ex-
periences at Manibere and poor Mrs. Cores
illness, you can all draw your own conclu-
sions l have my own opinion, of course
but as some of us are believers in the su-
pernatural and some are not, | prefer to
keep it to myself, undiscussed and undis-
puted. OF course the affair was never
alluded to by either Mr.. Gore or myself,
and until to-day / do not think that | have
ever related my adventure, as you call it,
to more than one or two of my most init
mate friends. There can be no harm now
though in telling it, seeing that Mrs. Gore,
whose insanity rapidly passed into the acute
stage, has been at rest for several years,
and Harry happily married to a charming
wife. There are no ghosts now at Mani
bere, and the girls and l look forward to
our annual fortnight there as one Of the
very pleasantest in our round of visits.