Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-07-27
SOUL FPIERRELAURIER
A New Psychological Romance. Written for
This Paper by Georges Ohnet.
CHAPTER III.

A1C1 OlSs
cussed 1t ove their wine and cigars.
and women used the day of the month,
his age, and the number of letters in
his name for lrcky numbers at the
gambling tables. Clemence Villa was
very proud of her work.
Il shall soon be q famous woman"
she remarked, "if mon go on killing
themselves for me at this rate. That
makes two inside of twelve months.
Not bad. Now, if DE V.gnes will only
follow suit, what q record that will be.
All Paris will be talking of me-"
"Madame." said DIR. Davidotf, in slow
and measured tones, as he was taking
leave OF Jacques, several days after
Pierre Laurier's suicide. the mystery
OF life is as deep to-day as it was six
we know nothing about it. Don't smile
incredulously when l tell you that your
son has been cured. The terrible hurt
which his mind has received has
turned nature $ thoughts away from
the mere physical weakness and he
will now get we'll. Fo. the moment
nature is bewildered and stunned; but
in a few days she will tie the broken
threads, adjust arrangements, level in
capabilities and then Jacques will awake
to a new life. Don't be alarmed at any
paroSysms of grief; encourage them
rather. Keep his thoughts on Pierre,
talk to him of his dead friend"
Davldoff was right. In q few weeks
Jacques de Nignes began to show
marked signs of Improvement. He
spent most OF the day on the ter. ace in
fine weather with Juliette b. his side,
reading to him from Pierre's books or
listening to long tales of their school
lie.
Mime. dc Vignes moved about as if in
a dream Of bliss at sight Of her sons
returning health and in his manifest
pleasure in her wards society. 1t was
almost tOom much to hope for. and ten
times in a single day she descended to
the terrace to satisfy herself that it
was not all the Pigment of her imagina-
tion. Davidotf was delighted when he
was told of the pleasure which jacques
took in listening 10 the reading of
Pierre's favorite authors: but this did
not satisfy the Russian physician: he
determined to make several expert
ments in order to satisfy doubling
minds of the truth of his theory. For,
as far as he was concerned himself, he
was firmly persuaded that the soul of
Pierre Laurier had passed into De
Vignes' budy, OF to make the statement
seem less audacious, that the death of
Pierre Lanrier, occurring under the
would have q deep, lasting, and power
full influence up. n Jacques de Vignes.
mentally and physically. Nine. de
Vignes was let into the secret of the
proposed experiments, for Davidotf
was DESTROYS of having them occrr at
the villa, and that Jacques should be
kept. as far a. possible, in ignorance of
them. These experiments consisted of
two kinds, IL addressed to the mind
and the other to the boiy; that is, a
mental and a physical test.
Hitherto DE Nignes had richly mer-
tied his sobriquet of straight Line
Jacques" for there was an utter alb
sence of the poetic and aesthetic in
stinct in him. He was color blind,
could scarcely distinguish one melody
from another. and preferred the hard
and angular figure of the athlete to
the graceful outlines of the female
form. But now, however, the inten-
which Nine. de Nignes. or J%uliette, at
Davidson's suggestion, were guilty of
n their costumes, were at once no.
ticed and condemned by Jacques: nor
did he stop here, for he not only no.
tlced the error, but directed how it
might be cured. His ear likewise be-
gan to show q wonderful acuteness in
detecting q false note in music or CALI
ing attention to a voice singing off the
key. The curved line no longer Of
Tended him, and he half unconsciously
laid aside the magazine of outdoor
sports for the art journal.
Knowing his repugnance to several
kinds of wine, notably sherry and To-
kay. and to any di>h containing even
the slightest suspicion of garlic, David
OFF caused careful experiments to be
made. and found in each case that the
nerves of taste had undergone as
marked a change as the subtler senses
of sight and hearing. In a word,
jacques de Nignes, as he took on q new
body, took on o new mind. He was no
longer himself. The doubters merely
scored and said:
He is posing. A man doesn't re-
ceive the gift of a soul every day. De
Vignes is simply taking advantage of
a friends hallucination to gain a little
notoriety. Watch him. He'll go back
to his old tricks in a few months. to
his athletic sports, to the races. to his
hunting breeches. and turn his back
on art and curved lines"
Davidoff was somewhat startled one
LloiLlllS W receive u uote from NINE.
de Vignes asking for an immediate in
terview. AS the Russian scienti:t en-
tered the room her first question was:
Was Pierre in love with a certain
adventures by the name of Clemence
Villa::"
"Foolishly. u~nreasonably, madly!"
was Davidoff's answer.
Nine. de Vignes sank upon the sofa
with a groan, and covered her face
with her hands.
MY dear madame" began pavido!f,
alphabetically, Il a forgiveness
possibly l was too frank-I should have
remembered that sou looked upon
Pierre Laurier as somewhat different
from the ordinary of young man
a sort of model, sober, Industrious and
full of earnest purpose-I-"
No, Doctor rep led Nine. de Vignes
as she uncovered her grief-stricken
countenance, you have not offended
me: on the contrary, l thank you for
your f%rankness. No matter how re-
pulsive, there are times when absolute
truth is the only thing that will satisfy
us. All, Doctor DavidOtf, YOU know