New Ulm review., 1901-08-21
A STRANGE CASE.
/. The Story Of an Infatuatton
For a Figure In Tapestry.

bIs
" in my study reading from volume
Of Gautier's short stories, when he sud-
denly jumped from his chair and began
pacing the room.
wonderful, wonderful" he kept re-
peating to himself. @There is no case
like it on record" Then he would re-
fer to the book again and repeat:
"Wonderful, wonderful, that should
stumble upon the explanation here. It
is the same, exactly the same, hallu-
cination. And the suggestion that I
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 bewilderment, 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, IT have
stumbled upon complete explanation
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 strange
way"
Completely mystified, took the book
from my uncle's hands and discovered
that he had been reading "Omphale,"
Gautier's weird story Of young man
who became enamored of figure in
piece of tapestry that hung on the wall
Of an old chateau owned by the Chew
alier de D. in the dismal Rue de
Tournelles. had not had time to re-
fresh my memory Of the tale when
my uncle almost snatched the book
from my hands and began reading
again to reassure himself Of the cor
rectness of the conclusion he had ap-
parently formed.
Hercules spinning at the feet Of Om-
phale," he began aloud. ''The very
same tapestry. Hercules holding a
bedecked spindle in pompadour STYLE
There could not be two Of them. His
little finger raised with the air Of q
French marquis taking q pinch of
snuff, his muscular neck covered with
ribbons and women's gewgaws; draped
in 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 swag-
ger; the delicious pout Of her dimpled
mouth; the beauty spot assassin, Gau-
tier calls it cunningly placed upon her
cheek, and the Cupids, the indispensa-
BILE Cupids.' Well, well, it is certainly
extraordinary"
Naturally my mystifcation and won
derment grew as my uncle delivered,
as from 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 iveliest curiosity. ut is plain as
day,'Smy 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 q
imagination"
"Of course, of course" my uncle re-
piled. "You must think me in need of
my own medicine. will tell you about
it. The tale is preposterous. I was not
thinking Of that when said it was
plain. l was thinking Of the case Of
young man who was placed in my
charge last summer. Poor chap! He
is dead now. / could do nothing for
him, and his people took him abroad.
where he died-in Italy, think-dur-
ing the winter.
'9The man-Wiltse was his name
was suffering from most peculiar
hallucination, the nature of which was
discovered by his family when they in
stituted close watch upon him to dis
cover, If possible, the cause of his
strange behavior and demeanor. To be
brief. he had fallen In love with that
piece of tapestry Identical with that
described in this tale Of Gautier's. And
not only this, but he imagined that his
alteration was reciprocated to some ex-
tent by the woven figure, with whom
he would tenderly converse when he
did not know he was being watched.
t'Mr. Wiltse informed me that he had
purchased the tapestry several years
before, having been attracted by the
absurd treatment the subject had re-
ceived at the hands Of the artist In
spired of Vanloo. The piece seemed
grotesque to our vision, but it was not
without merit and, gazing steadily at it
for any length of time. had a strange
effect even upon SO prosaic person as
myself. ] have fancied more than once
that / saw an undulating movement in
the lines of Omphale's beautiful neck
and that the delicate glow of her cheek
changed to deeper or paler shade.
You may laugh at me if you like, but
no one looking at the tapestry could
shake of the impression that thesfgure
of woolen and silken shreds was ami
mate. Her languishing glance followed
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