The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-02-29

heard my step and recoilcd SO that the
] floor OF the booth ratified. 1t seemed To
| to me that she was trying to break through
the boards To escape from me. She looked
pale, supernaturally pale. 1t might have
been an effect of light, for the gas was
directly above her head.
- gazed alternately on her blooodless
face, and at the white face of the mani
kin; they seemed TO grow confused in my
mind.
"The girls eyes shone, haggard and di-
! lated, like those of a somnambulist. Her
pallid lips moved;
"fYou have come TO kill me?'
"Kill you? Nonsense! What weapon
could use? ! remember laughing as i
said these words, and that is all"
"Collect your mind. Force your men,
ory 10 obey you," said the doctor anx-
iously.
"That is all can remember. The next
thing recall is that a mans hands closed
around my throat, and the man was
shrieking with sorrow. His grasp must
have been furions, yet felt nothing.
cover his shoulder | peered about TO
see the Golfer without trying ct all TO free
myself The Golfer was still in the corner
and the head 4" was still on top of il. There
was blood on the floor. The head looked
like pale young girl. Beside it lay a
shining sword OF curious shape, Ike an
African weapon"
"The sword was i'm the BOOTH" ex-
planned the physician, "you took it TO cut
of the girls head. Then you substituted
her head for that of the manikin. All
that was accomplished with strength
and rapidity only explicable by vertigo
temporary insanity alteration, call it
what you please"
Decidedly, you insist upon it as firmly
as the examining magistrate, +" said Julian.
Yet j can never admit myself guilty of
an act l am unconscious OF having done"
"You were out of your mind" said the
octor. "What happened next?"
81 remember gendarmes with drawn
swords. A walk past the booth, of the
showmen. And think they hooted and
| jeered. All the clamor mingled and con-
founded and became one great sound of
rushing waves, then that noise resolved it
self into harmonious concert, with
dominating chords of deep, sweet sound.
After that ] found myself here, and you
know the rest. You, doctor, felt my pulse,
my forehead, and questioned me search
inglv, but without succeeding in establish
ing my responsibility. / have never
bulism, and my brain is not diseased. My
own opinion? ] have given it and been
laughed at. Yet il l really did this hid
eous thing / am accused of, the very
thought of which freezes the blood in my
veins, then have been the instrument of
another's crime, a victim of suggestion.
i am excessively nervous and susceptible
! to hypnotic influence, and have sub
mitted to experiments until / have be-
come good subject have no hope OF
! this theory being accepted. / offer it
merely as my own conviction"
Have you arrived at any conclusion?"
asked the lawyer three days after, as he
| entered the doctors Office with curious
expression on his keen face, and a certain
| pallor and subdued excitement that at
once attracted the physicians attention.
"Why, no; / am just where l was" re-
| piled the latter. al can make nothing
of it. And you? You have found some
solution?"
"The solution-the motive-all," said
the prisoners counsel, unfolding a pack
age of manuscript. "The girl had been
insane, melancholy, suicidal mania, and
all that, but had been cured, as it was
supposed, and was not considered danger
Gus. The idea fixed, however, still en-
thralled her brain, and like all demented
women, the more fantastic the misen
scene of the crime the better it
would please her warped Imagination.
She conceived the idea of employ
! ing hypnotism, attended lectures and
seances, and became an expert pu
pill. At one of these pseudo scientific
| gatherings, which were frequented by
some medical students Of the Latin quar-
ter, she met Julian and incredible as it
seems-hypnotized him and suggested her
own murder. This MS, found few
hours ago among her effects, contains a
calm statement OF the facts, and COM
pletely exonerates the prisoner. ."-Edyth
! Fi-bvvOOl in Romance