Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1901-07-01


/ one about The room. growing intense as
! Ollie @azsd AT her eyes.
Naturally | tried the experiment OF
/ separating my patient from the infiu-
| ence Of the tapestry. but this. rs fear
| cd. only had the effect Of changing his
habitual melancholy into violent pas
/ sion that WAS much more difficult to
deal with than meianeholia. We then
| tried hanging tie tapestry In much
used room. where some member Of the
i family was likely To be AT all times.
| There young Wiltse would sit before il
in silence. with an impioring express
sion OH his face. Finally he became SO
callous in regard to his strange infat-
uation that he took small pains to con-
ceal il. Uncompiimentary remarks
about Omphale would send him into
uncomfortable fits OF passion that bare
ly stopped short Of violence to the per-
son who had made the aspersion. No
one ever heard him address his enchan-
tress by name. but he would call her
.Marchioness.' and that. too. Is explain
ed. though at the time we We're in the
dark as TO his reason for comforting
this particular rank upon OmphaIe.
sion the tapestry made upon whoever
looked at il for any length of time. l,
you must understand. was to some ex-
tent under the influence l was studying
and trying to counteract in my patient
Suggestion In such cases goes far and
follows strange paths. Every one In
the family came more or less under
OmphaIe's influence"
l had followed my uncie's story thus
far with intense interest. but here l
objected that IL he attributed the pecul-
lar Influence of the tapestry upon him
self largely or partly To Its known in
fiuence upon young Wiltse il made IL
more difficult to understand how the
patient had In the first instance come
under Omphale's spell. since he did not
have any outside suggestion.
THAT is true" said my uncle. land
can only suppose that young Wiltse
had some time or other read this story
of Gautier's and come to imagine him
self a second lover of the beautiful
Warehouses de T.. posed. to please her
husband. in the romantic scene with
Hercules"
My uncle's whole story ran counter to
my very strong projudices against be
lief In all things supernatural, spirit
ism" and the other ''isms" of the same
sort. do you mean to say" l ex
claimed. that you believe Gautier's
preposterous yarn about the amours of
the young student and that WOODEN
rag?"
mot so fast; not so fast" he replied.
II have not said that looked upon the
tale as a recital of fact. You miss the
point. l will refresh your memory of
the story and then you will under
stand.
1.-The youth of Gautier's story was |
deprived of his Omphale by an unfeel- |
Ing guardian who had discovered the |
boys infatuation. Years afterward the |
man found the tapestry representation |
of his goddess in an oddity shop and, |
trembling with Joy. hurried away to |
get the 500 francs demanded for 1t by |
the shopkeeper. Before he returned an |
Englishman twhy not Wiltse. Sr. p had |
offered GOO francs for the tapestry. the |
dealer had accepted, and the tapestry |
had been carried away"
But" broke in again. you are still |
suppOsing that Gautier's tapestry and |
youth actually existed"
MOT AT all. whether or not Gautier
described an actually existing tapestry |
do not know. l am inclined to think.
however that the novelist had seen |
this very tapestry. And when young |
Wiltse found 1t in his fathers house |
either after or before he read the story, |
for am confident that he had read IL,
Omphale's spell grasped him. and he
was never able to throw IT off. He be-
came the successor to Gautier's youth,
but probably Omphale did not warmly |
respond a second time to a merely hui
man lovers advances, and hence his
despair"
Poor fellow" said l. do you know
And then I hesitated ashamed to dis
close to my uncle the intense inter
est Ire had excited in me. Where is
that tapestry now?" l finally demand
ed
My uncle first looked amused and
then serious.
''You shall never see 1t. Hugh. until |
you are too old TO be foolish-until you
are as old as l am."-St. Louis Repub-
lie