San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-12-16

image IN my eyes, my word is your
law. You know what / please you
should know. You forget what
l command you to forget. You have
been mad these many years, and l ana
curing you. You must forget your
madness. You have now forgotten it.
] have erased the memory OF it with
my hand. There is nothing to re-
member any more"
The dull eyes. deep set beneath the
shadows of the overhanging brow.
seemed to seek her face in the dark,
and for the third time there was q
nervous twitching of the shoulders
and limbs. Unorna knew the symp-
tom well, but had never seen it return
so often, like protest Of the body
against the enslaving of the intelli-
gence. She was nervous in spite Of
her success. The immediate results
of hypnotic suggestion are not exactly
the same in all cases. even in the FIRST
moments; its consequences may be-
widely different in different individ-
uals. Unorns, indeed, possessed an
extraordinary power, but on the other
hand she had to deal with an extraor-
binary organization. She knew this
instinctively. and endeavored to lead
the sleeping mind by degrees 10 the
condition in which she wished il to
remain.
She knew that If. when he aweke,
the name he loved still remained
in his memory, the result could not be
~;
tire forgetfulness. and to do this she
must wipe out every association, one
by one. She gathered her strength
during short pause. She was greatly
encouraged by the fact that the 40
acknowledgements OF the delusion had
been followed by no convulsive reac-
ton in the body. She was on the very
verge Of a complete triumph, and the
concentration OF her will during few
moments longer might win the battle.
"And So she continued, presently.
'this mans whole life has been a de-
fusion, ever since he began to fancy.
in the fever of an illness that he loved
q certain woman. Is this clear to
you, my Mind?'
ut is quite clear" answered the
muffled voice.
"lle was so utterly mad, that he
even gave that woman name-a
name, when she had never existed,
except in his imagination"
Except in his imagination, re-
peated the sleeper, without resist
anCe.
''He called her Beatrice The
name was suggested to him because
he had fallen i'll in city of the South
where n woman called Beatrice onos
lived and was loved by great poet
, That was the train OF self-suggestiou
in his delirium. Mind, do you under
standPh
He suggested to himself the name
In his Illness"
You understand, therefore, my
Mind, that this Beatrice was entirely
the creature OF the man simagination.
Beatrice does not exist because she
never existed. Beatrice never had
any real being. Do you understand"
This time she waited for an answer,
but none came.
you are my Mind, she said, fierce
Iy. obey me! There never was any
Beatrice, there is no Beatrice now, and
there never can be-"
The lips twisted themselves, and the
face was as gray as the gray snow.
There is-no-Beatrice." The
words came out slowly, and yet not
distinctly, Us though wrung from the
heart by torture.
Unorna smiled at last, but the smile
had not faded from her lips when the
air was rent by terrible cry.
''By the Eternal God of Heaven"
cried the ringing voice. at is lie
"a liza lier'
She who had never feared anything
earthly or unearthly, shrank back.
She felt her heavy hair rising bodily
upon her head.
The Wanderer had sprung to his
feet. The magnitude and horror OF
the falsehood spoken had stabbed the
slumbering soul to sudden and ter
rible wakefulness.
"Beatrice" he cried, in long drawn
agony.
Between him and Unorna some
thing passed by, something dark and
soft and noiseless, that took shape
slowly-a woman in black, a veil
thrown back from her forehead, her
white face turned toward the Wan
derer, her white hands hanging by
her side. She stood still, and the
face turned. and the eyes met Unorna's,
and Unorna knew that it was Beat
rice.
There she stood between them
motionless as a statue, impalpable as