Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-05-27

courage to continue it," [ remarked.
ss" It is different with me in the pres
ent instance" he replied. ":Nothing
shall ever induce me to take to the
habit again. "esf....... ..... ....s..
Poor Smith pleaded SO earnestly
with me to be peacemaker between
him and his wife, that at last I made a
conditional promise. l told him | was
about to leave X-for, Switzerland,
and should be absent about a month, and
that if on my return [ found he had
kept his promise-and I would accept
his word as proof without further in
quiry-I would try to make peace be-
tween him and his wife. He willingly
accepted these conditions, and the fol
lowing day [ started on my journey to
Switzerland.
On my return to X at the time
specified, I called on Smith. He GER
tainly looked in better health and more
cheerful than when [ left. He told me
he had scrupulously kept his word, and
that it was more than six weeks since
he had tasted either wine or spirits,
he now called on me to fulfil my prom
Use. ..+ ...... -s-... ..
I unhesitatingly agreed to do so, but
on inquiry found that his wife would
return to X in about fornight's
time, and thinking I could better in
tercede with her by a personal inter
view than by letter, to which she might
reply under control of her friends, [
proposed to wait till she arrived, and
this I did more readily as it would give
Smith another ten days or so to prac-
tice his sobriety. To this proposition
he agreed, and he said no more On the
subject.
"And now [ want to speak to you, -
he said, ION another matter. You are
acquainted with the head of the police,
and I wish you would. call on him
and implore him to take away spy he
has placed over me. The fellow al
most drives me mad Wherever I go [
see him with his eyes. fixed on me,
watching my every movement. I sup
pose they are afraid ( shall quit u,
and crossing the frontiers, visit my
wife in Turin, where [, should be from
under their control. You may assure
them I have no intention of doing any
thing of the sort, and it would be an act
of kindness to relieve me from this in
tolerable surveillance
[ promised Smith I.would do as he
wished, and calling on Count Valletri,
the head of the police, told him my
mission.
"Your FRIEND said he in reply, is
under some great mistake No police
officer has been set to follow him. All
I require is that he will not insult or
injure his wife, and that almost as
much for his own sake as for hers"
I gave this reply to Smith, who said
it was untrue, and that the spy was per-
petually following him.
A few days afterwards he spent the
evening with me, and I accompanied
him home to large, rambling sort of
old dwelling house, in the outskirts of
the town, in which he occupied apart
ments on the ground floor and with
the exception of the sergeant's guard
always on duty, whose quarters were in
the rear of the house, there were no
other inhabitants. On our way home
Smith conversed volubly, sometimes on
matters connected with his wife, at 9TH
ers on the infamous behavior of the
police in setting spy to watch him.
Presently, on entering broad, straight
street, brilliantly Illuminated by an
Italian full moon, Smith suddenly
stopped, and clasping me by the arm
Whispered
"There the fellow is! Now let's
catch him p
81 see no one, I said. "You must
be mistaken. -
"He darted into this passage" he
said "come here and we shall find
him."
We now went into a narrow passage
through doorway, and closed at the
end so that no one could have escaped,
but he was not there.
The idea then first crossed my mind
that Smith was laboring under delu-
sion. [ asked him what sort of man
the spy was, and he replied that he was
tall and thin, with a pale face, and cold,
CLASSY eyes that he was dressed in
black, had three black studs in his shirt,
and always carried black glove in his
right hand. This Immediately tended
to convince me that Smith was laboring
under delusion, and questioned him
further on the subject, endeavoring to
prove to him that he was in error. He
remained firm, however, to his conclu-
sion, and finding it was useless to argue
the matter with him, [ gave it up for
the moment, determining to watch him
narrowly, and find out whether Oh no a
spy followed him in the manner he
described.
During the next week [ called daily
to see Smith, and received from him a
most minute account of the persecu-
ton he endured from the spy he i'm
agined to be following him. He told
me that instead of diminishing it pos
itively increased, and that even in the
night he could frequently see the fell
lows eyes peering through the inter-
stices of the wooden window blinds.
Here was further proof to me that
the whole was delusion, but before
determining what course to take to
prove it to be one, [ resolved to make
one more effort to ascertain whether