The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-02

STILL I commanded. looking her steadily
In the eye. Lie still. l tell you; you are
in no condition to get up. Now, listen TO
me, May; 1 know you have had a shock,
and your nerves are consequently thorough
ly unstrung. Now. do you wish to be SER
iously i'll, or do you not?" My quiet tones
seemed to calm her. "Of course. don't
want to be ill., she murmured. Then you
must not go on you have been doing
lately. VIII you let your old playfellow
doctor you a little? Will you promise to
you? l must tell you that, unless you do
what / say, you will be delirious in a few
hours" / thought that argument would
fetch her.
Yes, yes" she exclaimed What shall
1 do?" and she put her hand to her head
and gazed about her helplessly.
In the first place you must go to bed
Il can't do that; Mr.. Norman will be here
in a few hours.
well, 1 can't help it. To bed you must
go. and from what l hear of that young
man he will be as anxious as anybody to
have you do what is best for you
But" she objected.
There is no but Unless you at once
do as l tell you you will be down with
brain fever"
Very well. them" she meekly replied;
Il will go TO bed"
That's good girl You must get long
nights rest, and If you are better in the
morning L will let you see your friend.
He'll wait, you know; L don't believe ne
But she only frowned at my attempt at
POPULARITY. / rang the bell and asked the
butler to call Mrs. Derwent, to whom l
gave full directions as TO what 1 wanted
done, and had the satisfaction OF seeing
May go upstairs with her mother. | waited
till the latter came down again, and then
told her as gently as possible that her
daughter was on the verge OF brain FEVER,
but that i hoped her excellent constitution
might still save her from a severe illness.
The next question was what to do with
Norman.
Mays positive belief that he was coming
had proved contagious, and / found that
we were both expecting him. thought 1t
would be best for me to meet him at the
train, tell him of Mays sudden illness, and
offer TO put him up at our place for the
night. Mrs. Derwent, after some hesita-
ton, agreed to this plan. Norman turned
up. as / knew he would. He Is very quiet
and does not appear surprised, either, at his
sudden invitation, or at Mays illness. He
also seems to think ii quite natural that
he should stay in the neighborhood till she
is able to see him. He looks far from well
himself, and is evidently worried to death
about May. He has been out all evening.
and l suspect him of having been prowling
Now, tell me-what do you think is the
meaning of all this? Is the body Maurice
Greywoods, or Is it not? If it is he-who
killed him, and why? II she-but I'll not
believe 1T unless 1 also believe her to have
had a sudden attack of acute mania-and
that, of course. is possible, especially when
we consider what highly nervous state
she is still in.
But If the dead man was really a stranger
to her, as she asserts, why, then, does
every mention OF the murder cause her to
become so excited? Why does she appear
10 be forever watching for somebody? Why
did she cry out in her sleep. "Oh, he's dead,
he's dead?" Again, the only reasonable ex-
PLANTATION seems to be that her mind has
become slightly unhinged And if that is
the case, what role does Norman play in
this tragedy, and why did she insist on his
Co.. H<.xy oil xrrhx fn
consider it natural that she should have
done so?
Now, knowing all this, can you advise me
as to what ought to do to help the poor
girl?
/ hear Norman coming in, so must end
abruptly, although / have a lot more to
say. Affectionately yours, FRED.
ITO be Continued Tomorrow