Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1901-07-01
A STRANGE CASE.
The Story of an Infatuation
For q Figure In Tapestry.

Ny uncle. the celebrated English
alienist, DIR. Grifiiths, was sitting quiet
ly 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 II on record" Then he would re-
fer TO the book again and repeat:
"Wondcrfu1. wonderful. that l should
stumble upon the explanation here. II
Is the same. exactly the same. hallu-
cination. And the suggestion that |
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. II have
stumbled upon complete explanation
OF the most mystifying case OF hallu-
cination that has ever come under my
too late, but rarely In such a strange
way"
Completely mystifled. / took the book
from my uncle's hands and discovered
that he had been reading "Omphale."
Gautier's weird story of a young man
who became enamored OF a figure I'm a
piece Of tapestry that hung on the wall
Of an old chateau owned by the Chew
alier de ID. In the dismal Rue de
Tournelles. I 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 rcassure himself Of the cor
rectness Of the conclusion he had aI,-
parently formed
Hercules spinning Mt the feet Of Om-
phale." he began aloud. 'rhe very
same tapestry. Hercules holding
bedecked spindle I'm pompadour style
There could not be two of them. His
little finger raised with the air of a
French marquis taking pinch OF
snuff. his muscular neck covered with
ribbons and women's gewgaws; draped
I'm gorge pigeon petticoat with
huge panniers.' Fancy that! or course
1t Ia the same. And 'Omphale. half
covered with the Nenean lions skin;
her slender hand resting on her lovers
knotty club: her true Andalusian feet,
that would he lost i'm Cinderella's slip
pers. shod with antique sandals Of a
delicate lilac sprInkled with pearls: her
head thrown back with n mock swag
ger: the delicious pout of her dimpled
mouth: the beauty spot assassin, Gau-
tier calls III cunningly placed upon her
cheek. and the Cupids. the indispensa-
BILE Cupids.' Well well. 1t 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-" I said. with some irri-
tation. but II Is not ut 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 of
my own medicine. l Will tell you about
It, The tale Is preposterous. ! was not
thinking OF that when ! said it was
Iyfain. I was thinking Of the case OF a
young man who was placed in my
charge last summer. Poor chap! He
Is dead now. could do nothing for
hun. and his people took him abroad,
where he died-in Italy. l think-aur-
ing the winter.
THE many iltse was his name
was suffering from a most peculiar
the nature OF which was
discovered by his family when they In
stituted a close watch upon him to dis
cover. II 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
was reciprocated 10 some eN-
tent by the woven figure. with whom
he would tenderly converse when he
did not know he was being watched.
mir. 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 Vauloo. The piece seemed
grotesque TO our vision. but II was not
without merit and. gazing steadily at II
for any length of time. had strange
effect even upon so prosaic person as
myself I have fancied more than once
that ! saw an undulating movement in
the tines Of Omphale's beautiful neck
and that the delicate glow Of her cheek
changed to n deeper or paier shade.
You may laugh at me II you like. but
no one looking at the tapestry could
shake or the impression that the figure
OF wooden and silken shreds was AMI
mate Her ianguishing glance followed