Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1894-1895, 1895-07-05

E- raSSmeut that cauS-
ed his unwilling
ness.
IL have given it up. ladies' said he;
NJ have nothing more to do with mag
netiSm.'
"But why. why. DOctor?' the pretty
pleaders persisted. PUT us TO sleep
one Of us-you must, or tell us the rea-
son why"
"Well, so be it" said he. ut last, still
visibly reluctant 81 will tell you why;
1t may teach you lesson.
Eighteen months ago he began, 81
went into the country to see n friend
we will call him Paul if you please.
Though old comrades and devoted
'chums,' for a long time the chances of
life had separated us. particularly Ills
marriage, which, for certain reasons,
had obliged him to locate for a while
upon one of his properties, situated, as
/ have said in the depths of the coun
try. But often and often my thoughts
carried me-a trifle enviOusly, in the
midst of my hard work-toward that
forgotten corner, where his hours were
passed in the quiet routine and bliss
of a domestic life.
"Nor was | mistaken in the picture
my fancy had drawn; serenity, repoSe,
breathed from the very trees, with
their great moss-cOvered trunks, against
which an old chateau leaned in the
mingled shade and shine of the sunny
Provence woods.
Paul met ME at the station. His wife
/ did not see till later-just before din
ner, indeed-a beautiful woman, with
dark, brilliant eyes, which flashed,
when not shielded by the long. curling
lashes, with the light Of FURNISHED steel.
She had a superb figure and a complex
lon the tint and texture Of old ivory,
through which was flowing vigorously
the rich red current OF healthy blood.
Very, very beautiful she was, but, odd
sense of deception somewhere under
that fair exterior.
WAS it fancy? Or was this full, ro-
bust beauty but similar to a tOo-fe2vid
summer that forces the sap to rise so
fast that the fruit turns sour? do not
know, only that this woman entered
with difficulty into the idyl had evok-
ed from the shadowy aisles of these old
woods, that seemed always whispering
and murIIuring TO themselves.
Her intense vitality seemed to shat
ter this setting of peace and serenity.
Moreover, we We're not alone: another
guest had arrived-a young man and a
close neighbOr. From the moment of
his coming. too-or did l fancy that,
alsO?-Paul, my friend, seemed less
genial. The first joy in his eyes at my
arrival had Gained; saw him now in
his habitual state, doubtless, little
aged, slightly constrained, with that
vague, nervous reserve of the distrust-
full husband who in his inmost thoughts
suspects treachery.
81 had no time, however, to ponder
long on these reflections: old memories
serious and gay, crowded thick and fast
upon us in the ease and comfort of that
well-ordered dining-room, looking out
upon the lawn, the soft melancholy OF
the coming twilight slowly enwrapping
us and carrying hearts and minds both
far back into the past.
Dinner was nearly over when q
chance word or question turned the
conversation upon a subject no less
absorbing then than now, ladieS'-and
the doctor bowed cOurteouSly to the
circle of eager listeners closely clus
tered about him-"turned, | say, upon
the subject of hypnOtism and hypnotic
suggestion.
MY friend, from the first discover
ies, had watched the advance of these
studies with the liveliest interest, anC
many and frequent had been the dis
cussions between himself and his wife
concerning them, she denying the phe
nomena arising from these experiment.
and stubbornly denouncing them MS
humbug and charlatanism; and he af
frming that strange things could and
did happen, as he knew from his OWL
experience, Il certain evening in Paris
when he had offered himself as sub
5ect' as incredulous as she, and hat
been put to sleep promptly anI made
to accomplish in his sleep things o
which they told him afterwards.
"'Bah. They duped your insisted
his wife. Doctor suddenly appealin,
to me, help me to get this rubbish on
of his head, or Paul will certainly g
crazy