On the 25th of December, Francis, fortified by a cup of chicken broth and half the yolk of a soft boiled egg, sat up in bed, and without the slightest hesitancy or mortification, and in a perfectly lucid manner, gave the history of the past three months without any emotion save that of quiet joy. Claire and Mme. Auvray wept as they listened to him; the doctor pretended to be taking notes, or rather to be writing under dictation, but something besides ink fell on the paper. When the story ended, the convalescent added, by way of conclusion: "And now on this, the 25th day of December, I say to my good doctor, and much loved father--Dr. Auvray, whose street and number I shall never again forget--'Sir, you have a daughter, Mlle. Claire Auvray, whom I met at Ems, with her mother. I love her; she has proved that she loves me in return, and if you have no fears that I will become insane again, I have the honor to ask her hand in marriage." The doctor was so deeply affected that he could only bow his head in token of assent, but Claire put her arms around the sick man's neck and kissed him tenderly on the forehead. I am sure I should desire no better response under like circumstances. That same day, M. Morlot, who had become much more quiet and tractable, and who had long since been released from the bondage of a strait jacket, rose about eight o'clock in the morning, as usual. On getting out of bed, he picked up his slippers, examined and reexamined them inside and out, then handed them to a nurse for inspection, begging him to see for himself that they contained no thirty thousand francs. Until positively assured of this fact he would not consent to put them on. Then he carefully shook each of his garments out of the window, but not until after he had searched every fold and pocket in them. After his toilet was completed, he called for a pencil, and wrote on the walls of his chamber: "_Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's money, nor anything that is his._" Dr. Auvray is confident of his ability to cure him, but it will take time. It is in the summer and autumn that physicians are most successful in their endeavors to cure insanity. THE GRAND MARRIAGE BY LUDOVIC HALÉVY [Illustration] _Ludovic Halévy was born at Paris in 1834, and began to write for the theatre when very young. He is the author of the opera librettos, "Orphée aux Enfers," 1861, "Carmen," 1875, etc.; besides a number of vaudevilles, such as "Froufrou," etc. Most of his pieces are written in collaboration with Meilhac. Outside of the theatre he has published a collection of little scenes in the paper called "La Vie Parisienne," under the title of "Madame Cardinal" and "Les Petits Cardinal"; impressions of war under the title "L'Invasion," and some novels, such as "L'Abbé Constantin," 1882. In 1884 he was elected a member of the Academy._