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Willed To Death

Willed To Death image
Parent Issue
Day
28
Month
June
Year
1895
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The doctor paled. Decidedly it -was somethiug more thau mere embarrass ment that caused his unwillingness. "I have giveu it up, ladies, " said he. "I have nothing more to do with mag netisui. ' ' "But why, why, doctor?" the pretty pleaders persisted. "Put us to sleep - oue of ns - you mnst, or teil ns the reason why. " "Well, so be it, " said he at last, stil] visibly reluctaut. "I vvill teil you why. It inay teach you a lesson. "Eighteen nionths ago, " he began, "Iwent into the country to see afriend. We will cali him Paul, if you please. Though old comrades and devoted 'chuma, ' for a long time the chances of life had separated us, particularly his marriago, whioh, for certain reasons, had obliged him to lócate for awhile upon one of his properties, situated, as I have said, in thedepthsof theconntvy. But of ten and often my thoughts carried me - a trifle envionsly in the midst of my hard work - toward that forgotteu corner where his hours were passed in the juiet routine and bliss of adornestic life. "Nor was I mistaken in the picture my fancy liad drawn. Peace, serenity, repose, breathed from the very trees, with their great raoss covered trunks, against whioh an old chateau leaned in theruiugled shade and shine of thesunny Provence woods. "Paul met me at the station. His wife I did not see till later - just before ciinner indeed - a beautiful woman, with dark, brilliant eyes, which flashed when not shielded by the long, curling lashes, with the light of burnished steel. She had a supeib figure and a complexion the tint and texture of old ivory , through which was flowiug vigorously the rich red current öf a healthy blood. Very, very beautifnl she was; but, oddly enough, as I looked at her I feit a sense of a deception somewhere under that fair exterior. "Was it fancy? Or was tlris full, robust beauty but similar to a too fervid surnmer that forces the sap to rise eo f ast that the fruit turns sour? I do uut know, only that this woman entered with difficulty into the idyll had evoked from the shadowy aisles of these old ■woods, that seemed alwavs whispering and murmuring to themselves. "Her intense vitality seeined to shatter this setting of peace and serenity. Moreorer, we were not alone ; another guest had arrived - a young man aud a close.neighbor. From the moment of his coming too - or did I fancy that also? - Paal, my friend, seemed less genial. The first joy in his eyes at my arrival had calmed ; I saw him now in his habitual state, doubtless, a little aged, slightly coustrained, with that vague, nervons reserve of the distrustful husband who in his inniost thoughts suspects treachery. "I had no time, however, to ponder long od these reflections. Old memories, 6erious and gay, eroivded 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 ooming twilight slowly enwrapping us and carryiug hearta aud minds both far back into the past. "Diuuer was noarly over when a chauee word or question turned the conversa tion apon a subject no less absorbing then than now, ladies" - and the doctor bowed courteously to the circle of eager listeuers closely elustered about him - "turned, I say, upon the subject of hypnotism and hypnotic suggestion. "My frieud, from the first discoveries, had watched the advance of these studies with the liveliest interest, and muny and frequent had been the discussions between himself and his wife concerniug them, she denying the phenomena arising from tliese experiments and stubboiuly pronouncing them humbug and charlatanism, and he affirming that strange things could and did happen, as he knew from his own experience - a certain eveniug in Paris, when he had offered himself as a 'subject' as incredulous as she, and had been put to sleep promptly aud made to accomplish in his sleep things of which they told him afterward. "'Bah! They dnped you!' insisted his wife. 'Doctor,' suddeuly appealing to me, 'help me to get this rubbish out of his hond or Par.l wil! certainly go era v " Pureer! totake sides, I was obl'iU'd to aiiiuit that I mysi li was deeply intorestcd in these m-:mers, and had witnesKed things that I did not dare to doubt, bbe was still obstinate, still mocking. ühe ■wou ld believe wlmt she saw - no more. no less. " ' If Paul is a subject, as he declares, ' saidshe, 'the thing, too, is easy enough. C!onvince me - you have done such things, you say - by trying it here and I now. ' "Paul was willing I looked intently at him. His eyes wavered curiously away from my gaze. He was a marvelous subject aud feil immediately undcr my wilL "We passed into the drawing room, plaoed him in a chair, and I had not made six passes over his brow when he was in a souud hypnotic sleep. " 'Well, he is off,' said L " 'Irapossible! No!' "She bent over him, called him, jjinched hirn - no movemeut. Raised his arm - it feil inert like a log. " 'Qnick, quickl Suggestsomethingl' said she, a strange eagerness showing suddenly iu her face. "You would perhaps feel the proof stronger, madame, did yon make the suggestion yourself. ' "She appeared to think, murmuring half aloud, 'It must be an unaccustomed act, somethiug unusual, that he cannot divine, that, does not enter into his habit of Hfe. ' "She looked about hes. Near by on a talile a magazine lay opened at a recent article on ' Hypnotic Suggestiou, ' a slender mother of pearl paper knife thrust between the f olds. She turned the leaves hurriedly. " 'Ah-h, we haveit at last !' said she, putting her finger upon a certain paragraph. 'Aa experiment just made suceessfuiïy, they say - at the hospital of La Salpetriere. Repeat it with Paul, and I shall be convinced. ' "The experiment was to suggest to the patiënt at a fixed hour a predetermined act - the act in this case suicide - with some harmless object that the 'subject' should be made to believe a poniard. " 'Willingly, ' I responded. "She handed me the paper knife. 'This is harmless enough, isu't it?' she said, yielding it to ine with a chamring smile. 'It would not lrurt a fly. ' " 'Perfectly barnaless. ' And Iheld up the little pearl dagger before Paul's eyes. " 'Do yon see it, Paul?' said I slowly and impressively, 'this pouiard here? Well, I am going to put it on that table yonder. Tornorrow, when the luncheon bell rings - the lnncheon bel], rernember - you will come here, take this poniard and - kill yourself !' "Theu I ronsed him. Heremembered nothiiig and feit notbing, only a comic uneasiness concerning the act that he was to accomplish and from which he was determmed to defend himself. "The evening flnished gayly with a rubber of whist, ending at 10 in order to give the haudcome young neighbor - a silent listener to what had been going on - time enough to reach home at a reasonable liour. "We were walking, Paul, his wife, and I, on the terrace nest morning when the luncheou bell rang. Paul raised his head, listened a second, turned brusquely and re-er.tered the chateau. His wife had beconie very pale. " 'Come, quick, ' said L 'He has gone for that parier knife!' "She rei; ained rnotionless. " 'To what good?' she said. 'I see already that öuggestion has reason in it, for Paul has gone. He will come back madder than ever, I suppose. ' "I did n )t wait for her to finish. I hastened to the drawing room, wherè my 'subject' had gone. "I ran I threw open the door, and Paul was there - dead, face downward on the floor - a dagger in his heart!" "A real dagger, doctor?" cried the mistress of the house laying her hand 6oftly upon the doctor's arm. "A real dagger, madame. I turned to the table - the little mother of pearl paper knife was gone. Who had taken it! Who had put the other - the real dagger - in its place? "God knows, but she, Paul's wife, and he, the neighbor who dined with us that night, were inarried ten montha

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Subjects
Ann Arbor Argus
Old News