Rosebud County news. [volume] (Forsyth, Mont.) 1901-1906, 1901-07-04
A STRANGE CASE.
-.ss-.s--
The Story of an Infatuation
For Figure In Tapestry.
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MY uncle the celebrated English
alenist, DR.. Grifliths, was sitting quiet
ly in my study reading from volume
of Gautiers short stories, when he sud
denly jumped from his chair and began
pacing the room.
"Wonderful. wonderful" he kept re-
Deating TO himself There is no case
like It on record" Then he would re
fer to the book again and repeat:
"Wonderful wonderful. that l should
stumble upon the explanation here. 1t
is the same. exactly the same, hallu-
cination. And the suggestion that l
had given up hope Of finding is here
too. Extraordinary"
Unconscious of my presence, my
uncle went on in this strain for perhaps
five minutes, and then, noticing that
was staring at him in bewlderment. he
smiled with that air of satisfaction that
is seldom seen, except upon the face of
the student or investigator who has
finally solved some scientific riddle.
Hugh my boy" he said, 81 have
stumbled upon Il complete explana ton
Of the most mystifying case of hallu-
cinatiOn that has ever come under my
notice. Explanations often come to us
too late, but rarely in such n strange
way"
Completely mystiiel, l took the book
from my unclc's hands and discovered
that he had been reading "Omphale,'
Gautier's weird story of Il young man
who became enamored of Il figure in
piece Of tapestry thlt hung on the wall
of an old chateau owned by the Chev-
alier de ID. in the dismal Rue de
Toulneles ! had not had time to re-
fresh my memory of the tale when
my uncle almost Snatcheu the boot.
from my hands and began reading
again to reassure himself of the cor
rectness of the conclusion he had az.
parently formed.
Hercules spinning at the feet of ON
phale," he began aloud. The very
same tapestry. Hercules holding n
bedccked spindle in pompadour style.
There could not be two of them His
little finger raised with the air Of a
Trench marquis taking pinch Of
snuff, his muscular neck covered with
ribbons and womens gewgaws; draped
in Il gorge-de-pigeon petticoat with
huge panniers.' Fancy that. OF course
it is the Same. And 'Omphale, half
covered with the Nemean lions skin:
her slender hand resting on her lovers
knotty club; her true Andalusian feet,
that would be lost in Cinderella's Slip
pers, shod with antique sandals of a
delicate lilac sprinkled with pearls; her
head thrown back with mock swa@-
ger; the delicious pout of her dimped
mouth: the beauty spot assassin. eau
tier calls IT'D cunningly placed upon her
cheek. and the Cupids, the indispensa-
bic Cupids.' Well, well, it is certainly
extraordinary"
Naturally my mystification and Won
derment grew as my uncle delivered,
as from a catalogue. the features of
this wonderful tapestry, tortured aft
er the fashion of Vanloo," the drift of
his speech being SO strange as to cause
the liveliest curiosity. 1T is plain as
day" my uncle finally explained
Pardon me-" | said, with some irri.
tation, but it is not at all plain to me
The story always struck me as being a
particularly wild flight of an unruly
imagination"
''Of course. of course" my uncle re
piled. you must think me in need oi
my own medicine. will tell you abou
it. The tale is preposterous. | was no
thinking of that when | said it wa
plain. | was thinking of the case Of
young man who was placed in m,
charge last summer. Poor chap. H
is dead now. could do nothing 70
him. and his people took him abroad
where he died-in Italy. l think-dul
ing the winter.
THE man-Wiltse was his name
was suffering from a most pecuia
hallucnation, the nature of which wa
discovered by his family when they il
stituted close watch upon him To dis
cover. if possible, the cause of hi
strange behavior and demeanor. To L
brief, be had fallen in love with thu
piece of tapestry identical with thu
described in this tale of Gautier's. An
not only this, but he imagined that h
alteration was reciprocated to some e,
dent by the woven figure, with whol
he would tenderly converse when /