“Have I?”
“Yes, see the poor man can scarcely speak, and he wants to talk to you.”
“Well, he is my lover, and he can talk if he wants to; but I won’t believe him. But don’t you scold, for I told you I would take his head off. Didn’t he kill me once—me and my baby? Why, yes, he just ground me down to the dust.”
The man’s pale lips moved, and regaining consciousness, 280 he said: “I was just coming back to look at you once more; I wanted to find you again, and——”
“There, don’t lie any more. You know you swore that you loved me once, but I don’t believe a word you say.”
“Bessie,” said the man, raising his handsome head, “what made you do this if you loved me?”
Miss Elsworth looked at the man in surprise. It was now quite evident that he did not exactly understand the condition of Bessie’s mind.
“Why, sir,” she said, “do you not see that Bessie is insane.”
“Good God, is that so?” said the man.
“Yes, and she has been so since she was cruelly deserted by her lover.”