La Belle Suzanne disappeared from the Montmartre studio and the long dead Corporal Paul Grappe painted
tomed easel.
at her accus-
Paris was amazed at the astonsihing disclosure that La Belle Suzanne was not a girl at all, but the lawful husband of madame Grappe. The hero of the masquerede explained that he deserted in 1915 and made his way to Paris, where he and his wife hit upon his female disguise as a plan of con- cealment. When the Amnesty law became a fact and all charges of ordinary desertion by men who spent not less than six months at the front had been wiped off the slate. Paul Grappe decided to give up his high-heeled shoes and dainty undergarments for woolen socks and the freedom of a lounge
suit.
So the caretaker of the house where Suzanne lived could scarcely believe her eyes when her former tenant left the place - this time attired as a man and wearing the blue beret of the French Chasseuts.
"I am no longer Suzanne Langlarde," the pseudo girl declared. "Henceforth I resume my real name of Paul Grappe, the rightful husband of Mme. Grappe."
Soon after he resumed male clothes, Grappe gave way to drink. Presumably his feminine clothes had deterred him from giving way to his worse nature. He exercised a strange fascination over women, and quarrels between him and his wife became frequent. He assaulted her and his wife shot him. dead.
"I shot him because my child was screaming of fright, and I thought that my life and that of my child were in was the dramatic statement made at the child by Madame Grappe, when charged with his murder. "He exercised a strange fascination over women, and I think that he must have had dozens of lovers in his lifetime. I was angry when I shot him but I was also afraid. Even now I love him, just like all the other women who loved him."
The jury returned a verdict of "Not Guilty," and Madame Grappe was discharged.
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