Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-19
Andrew Hollister bowed his head.

| Andrew Hollister bowed his head.
"You have had no news of her for fbul
years-for four years?"
The merchants lips still remained closed.
'You look upon the Dreadnaught as lost
| and everyone on board of her? And
John will never come back to me again ?"
Andrew HOLSTERS eyes filled with tears
they were his only response. Mrs. AL
laire's hands few to her head, she reeled
and would have fallen had not the merchant
hastened to her eide. He laid her ten
DERBY upon the sofa She had lost conscious
ness The ianitor's wife was called in
to care for her, and messengers were dis
patched in search of DR.. Bromley
Upon his arrival Mr.. Hollister, In few
words, explained the situation to him. Ac-
cidentally, or through some lack of precau-
tion, Mrs. Allaire had learned everything
Whether it had been at Prospect Cottage or
in the streets of San Diego it made little
difference. The whole truth was known to
her now. She knew that four years had
gone by since little Waits death, that dur
ing these four years she had been out of her
mind, and that for four years no tidings had
been received from the Dreadnsught.
It was only with the greatest difficulty
that DIR. Bromley succeeded in restoring
poor Molly to consciousness, and the ques-
tion which he now put to himself was
whether her mind would not be shattered
BY this last and most terrible of the blows
that had been rained upon it. When Mrs
Allaire came to herself she did so with a
full consciousness of what had happened.
She had come back to life again with un-
clouded reason. Her eyes were bent in
ouiringly upon Andrew Hollister, who sat
by her side with her hands clasped in his.
"Speak, oh, speak, Mr.. Hollister-"
on1 har aI
away.
The merchant obeyed, speaking slowly
and tenderly, but plainly and firmly. He
told her of their first anxiety concerning
the Dreadnaught-how letters and dis
patches had been sent to Singapore and to
the Indies where the ship had never ar
rived, how search had been made all along
the course traversed by Captain John, and
how no trace of the shipwrecked vessel had
come to light.
With parted and rigid lips, with fixed
stare, Mrs Allaire listened, and when An
drew Hollister had finished, half groan,
half sob escaped her, and then like wall
came the words:
''My child dead-my husband dead-Oh,
why did not Zach French let me Gie?"
Then her face lighted up, and there was
such wonderful display of that energy and
force of character natural to the woman that
DIR. Bromley was fairly startled. With
strong and steady voice she called out:
'Then there has been nothing heard from
the Dreadnaught since you made search for
her?''
'tNothing," replied Mr.. Hollistek
"And you look upon her as lost?"
"Yes-lostp'
'sNor not a word from John nor from any
man in his crew."
''Not a word, my dear Molly, we have
given up all hope"
"All hope?'' she queried in tone that
seemed almost tinged with irony.
AS sne uttered these words, she had risen
from the sofa and stood with her right hand
stretched out toward the window through
which the ocean was visible. Mr.. Hollister
and DR.. Bromley followed her movements
with secret dread, fearing that the worst
had come. But Molly's face was not that of
a lunatic. 1t was lighted up with the glow
of her great soul
Gan hope?" she repeated "You say