Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-24

HIM. Her eyes were shining with fever,
did not recognize him.
Who sre you?' she asked.
joan began the General, but with a
wild, unnatural laugh Joan waved him
away
''You need not stav,'' she said; YOU are
an old man-call Robert-Robert Conray,
nv dead lover"
The General started and gnawed his lips
under his white mustache.
Call Robert Conray and the m an who
killed him, went on Joan, vet m ore ex-
citedly. ''He is hiding, the coward who
killed my Rebert-Miriam knows whe re he
is hid-ask her, she has him safe. -
GO from the room; will watch her, +"
said the General with pale, faltering lips,
addressing the maid; 'she is best kept very
quiet when she is wandering thus"
So the maid went away and the husband
and wife were alone, and then once more
the General addressed her.
"Joan, is there any truth in thls?" he
said, ''or are they but 6reams?''
,Joan's face softened strangely.
"Dreams?" she repeated. 81 see Robert
in my dreams, and the man who killed
him"
''who was the mani" asked the General,
sternly.
Hugh Ferrars," answered ] oan, readily;
sand Miriam hid him."
"Where did she hide him?''
Joan put her hand to her head as il
irving to recollect
Somewhere by the sea-" she said 81
can I remember, but somewhere by the sea- u
"And he did this,' said the General,
darkly. she shot Robert Conray. Why
did he do it?''
He shot him, and he died-he diedr'
moaned Joan, beginning to wiring her hands
and fling herself TO and fro in the bed.
''He tried to speak-he looked at me.
Don't you know my gown was all blood
blood! Miriam burnt tit was Roberts
blood - it drained right down into my
heart %
MY Godp' muttered the General, below
his breath, ''this is too terrible"
"Why do you stare so?" now asked the
delirious woman, peering in her husband
pale face with her cleaning eyes. Ibid
YOU know Robert? He was not old like
you-he was young-there was none like
him-none, nonep' And once more she
wrung her hands, and then went on with hel
babblirg words.
But the General asked no more questions
He sat there as if turned to stone, listening
to Joan telling again and again her pitiful
story. 1t had burnt into her brain as she
told Miriam, and now, when reason had los,
It's sway, the one dominating idea was evel
on her tongue. She ramDled on for hours
telling the stern gray-haired man who was
watching her how she used to meet Robert
Conray in the still gardens. How they had
loved each other, and how he had died. AT
last General Conray could bear it no longer
He started up and rang the bell, and bade
the servants 10 go for the doctor-bring him
at once-and when he came he gently shook
his head after he had examined her.
soThe fever is running very high to.
night, he said, 'fshe must be constantly
watched"
Then the unhappy woman began again
the old story of Robert Conray's death, and
the doctor listened, and the General bowed
his gray head and covered his face with hi.
hand.
THAT unfortunate occurrence has evi.
IDENTIFY got on her mind" said the doctor.
He too knew this tragic story, and how the
Generals nephew had been found cold and
stiff in the early morning in the grounds OF
this verv house. There might be some
truth in all this, and there might not AT
all events he spoke of Joan's wild words as
the mere ramblings OF delirum. He stayed
with her for some time, ard he said he
would send two nurses in the morning. She
might try to throw herself out of the win
dow: she might do hundred things, for in
case of fever you could never depend on the
patient for a moment
Joan was very i'll for DAYS, for weeks
after this; so i'll that her father and mother
were telegraphed for, but when they arrived
she had sunk into state Of listless apathy.
She did not rave now or talk OF her dead
lover. She lay with her eyes half closed,