St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-08-09

strong lines, and noticed his self-pos-
sessed manner, nervous as | am, l felt
no uneasiness in travelling with mani
&C, so long as the doctor was with US.
Nevertheless it WIS unpleasant to be
| stared at SO.
''How came it you SO nearly missed
the tramp | asked, still in q whisper
The doctor smiled.
zone of the poor fellows peculiarl-
ties is that antil train is in motion he
will not enter it-even then he will only
follow me. l am obliged to humor him;
| but of course you understand that my
men were behind him to make sure that
he really did come after me.
AS he spoke he gradually raised his
voice to its ordinary pitch. NO doubt
/ the eminent man knew his own business
best, but it struck me it was injudicious
to speak so freely of his patients lido
syncrasies while the poor fellow was
within earshot.
"Can't he hear us?" I asked doubt
fully.
eyes; but he does not understand q
word we say. One form of his mania
is that he fancies himself some one else.
He would never imagine we were dis
cussing his case. dare say at this
moment he is Sir Isaac Newton, Mr..
Sturgeon or Henry Irving.
Thus assured, [ Ventured to glance at
the mailman, and for a moment ON
eyes met fairly. In spite of DR., Wolfe's
assertion, the expression in the untor-
tunate beings eyes told me he compre-
hended every word that was spoken.
The strange look he flashed upon me
was full of maniac's cunning. L again
began to feel nervous, and wished that
the Doctor would look little closer to
his patient.
However, I resolved to make the best
of it. | turned my back on the unhap-
by man.. and tried to think no more
about him, but to enjoy to the full the
advantage of conyersing with the pleas
art-spoken and celebrated DR.. Wolfe.
"You have q great many patients
under your care?n / asked.
"a great many" replied the Doctor,
with a graceful wave of his cigar. E"The
responsibility is Observation-Disclosures.
1T must be, % said. 'sYour patients
are of all ranks in life, suppose?"
From the very highest. | have now
four dukes under my care. y
Pour dukes! All, foreign ones, 1sup-
pose?"
.'Three are foreign. The fourth is
the Duke of -" there he whispered
a great name to me). He is common
" supposed to be dead, but the truth is
he has been with me for ten years.
DR.. Wolfe might be skillful, but he
certainly was not discreet. However.
it might be he was joking, and that his
duke was but self-styled one.
what painful histories and ire
sponsible criminals you must have met
with in your experience, observed.
Terrible! terrible! The finest careers,
the happiestlives wrecked, sir-Wrecked
by the demon of, insanity. Our poor
friend in the corner" he added, in
voice of deep sympathy, "has an awful
past He went to bed one night as
sane, apparently, as you or l. In the
morning they found him raving and de-
luged with blood. He had cut the
throat Of wife whom he adored, and
strangled his twin babies, who were
sleeping in the same room"
Ishuddered at the horrible tale, and,
with morbid interest, glanced once
more at the poor wretch near us.
Again caught that eve. full of dia-
bolical cunning. Mad he might be;
but lie was clever enough to deceive
even the learned doctor as to his obliv-
iousness to what was passing around
him. Heavens! would not have spent
five minutes alone with that homicide
for fortune.
| could not help feeling curious as to
the state Of mind Of d creature who had
done such a fearful deed. ''Does he
feel no remorsep" l asked.
..None-they never do. He's happy
as the day is long. Strange, isn't it?'2
every strange, but very merciful Is
his case hopeless?'
''Oh. dear, no. / can cure any mad
man with my treatment. indeed, am
now perfecting q new system which
mean to try on large scale. The re-
suit will, / am sure, be SO successful |
that one day shall open the doors of
my asylum and restore three hundred
men and women to the outer world. =
I wished him all success. but thought
that if self-confdence and appreciation
OF ones own skill were necessary in
order to rise in the profession, DR.. |
Wolfe must be somewhere about the
top of the tree.
II suppose all the cruel old treat
ments are now done away with?" |
asked.
utterly exploded. Rational treat
ment, Kindness, Indulgence even that's |
the only way to succeed. | myself find
music one Of my most useful agents. |
have musical boxes all over the place;
each Of my keepers is taught to play
the flute or some other instrument The
effect on my patients is simply marvel
GUS"
Saul or David or some one was
soothed by music" | said, wondering
II, $50 ]. suppose it must be good for q