News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-04-24

JEALOUSY AND INSANITY.
/ had Just taken turn, in compan.
with Doctor Noirot, through the vas
gardens that surrounded his hospital
and was advancing with him toward the
stoop of his own special dwelling. The
celebrated physician, whose particular
field was insanity, was explaining to me
the case of one of his patients whom we
had met in an alley and VINO had sa-
lauted Us with patronizing air.
At that moment an explosion re-
sounded few PAGES from us. grasped
my hosts arm.
"What's that?" asked. ''Has one
of your patients shot himself %
Doctor Noirot smiled.
"No," said he; treasure yourself. II
is still another curious case 1 want you
to see."
And turning obliquely to the left, he
drew me toward a small pavilion, hid
den behind grove of trees. He I'M
locked door, led me across a narrow
vestibule, and we found ourselves III a
sort of long court, surrounded by walls
A man was there of lofty stature, clad in
strange hunting costume, recalling by
certain details the Mexican fashion. He
had his back against the wall of the pa
vilion and, at the moment we entered,
raised his right hand, armed with a pis-
tol. Our arrival did not disturb him.
He aimed slowly, with a sure hand. /
followed the direction of the weapon and
saw, about twenty PAGES distant, white
face with a dark hole in the centre of
the forehead. 1t was, as well as I could
judge at that distance, the plaster mask
of a Greek head, in which 1 thought l
recognized the classic type of Diana, the
Huntress.
The pistol was discharged. The head
did not move, and not fragment flew
from ii.
'Look p said the doctor to me, in
low voice. ats very curious. He never
misses his mark"
"He never misses ?'
''No. All the balls are lodged in the |
same place, in that dark hole, smaller
than piece of hundred sous
The man had drawn another pistol |
from his belt. He fired. As before the
mask remained intact. The weapon |
being loaded with several bullets, in the |
American fashion, the marksman success
siyely discharged five more balls. Not
one of them cut the forehead of the
white face.
The doctor laid his hand upon the
shoulder of the marksman, who wheeled
about. His visage, though enframed by
a strong beard, had an expression at
once energetic and sad.
''Stop an instant" said the doctor to
him.
The man made with his head sign of
consent. Then the doctor led me to the
other end of the court, and, behind the
plaster mask, showed me a plate of
blackened iron that protected the wall.
In the center of the plate a round spot
glistened with reflections of lead pro-
duced by the hattening of the balls.
"You see," said he, showing me the
exact correspondence of this brilliant
spot with the hole that pierced the
plaster mask, ''you see that all the balls
pass through there. You will not find
one of them elsewhere"
cit is marvellous" answered I. 'sBut
what strange history is associated with
this man %
"Come," said the doctor to me; 'sI
will tell you all about it outside" F"
We again crossed the court and the
vesti6ule of the pavilion. And this is
what Doctor Noirot told me, while be-
hind us the detonations recommended
with regular intervals between them.
"Tbis unfortunate man." said my
host, ''calls himself Guido Ventura. Is
he an italian, Spaniard or an Ameri-
can? That's what We don't exactly
know. Probably he was an American,
for it is the new world in particular that
sends us these virtuosos of the revolver
and the rifle. 1t was from there, at all
events, that this one came to France
You may have seen him last year at the
Alcazar d'Automne, where he gave four
or five exhibitions and would have had
all Paris running to see him If terrible
event had not suddenly interrupted the
course of his representations. But we
must begin at the beginning. There is
an exciting story involved, that GER
tainly am the only person acquainted
with, having without aid, during the six
months this man has been an inmate
here, succeeded in reconstructing the
details of it, thanks to certain words
that an intermittent delirium snatches
from him. Hence I will give it to you
as 1 see it, sure that my vision does not
deceive me.
"Guido Ventura, when he came to
Paris, was accompanied by young wo-
man named Miss Arabella. She was
a superb creature, scarcely twenty years
of age, with the head of a goddess and
the figure of statue. Admirers were
not lacking, and in less than week it
had become the. fashion to go and see
the splendid Arabella aid in his exer-
cises the celebrated marksman, Guido
Ventura. She stood proudly, her arms
folded, her .visage impossible, fifteen
PAGES from Guido Ventura, who direct
ed upon her the vain menace of his pis-
tol, the infallible ball of which cut a
card between her fingers, broke the
bowl of pipe two inches from her lips
and crushed the shell of nut placed
upon her head.
ga slight trembling of the marks
mans hand and all would have been
over with the superb Arabella. But
the hand of Guido Ventura never trem-
bled.
Evidently Guido Ventura loved this
creature like an idol. To be convinced
of it it sufficed to surprise one of those
flashes that shot from his eyes each time
when in the foyer of the theatre,
where he was awaiting his turn to go