runs from one to
the other, and offers himself to everybody. He forgets nothing. The
consolation; which he offers come from the depths of his soul, and are
not mere formalities in the way of his profession. No, no, I saw him
weep over a poor woman, whose eyes he had closed after a dreadful agony.
Oh, if all priests were like him!"

"No doubt, a good priest is most worthy of respect. But! who is the
other victim of last night?"

"Oh! his death was frightful. Do not speak of it. I have still the
horrible scene before my eyes."

"A sudden attack of cholera?"

"If it had only been the contagion, I should not so shudder at the
remembrance."

"What then did he die of?"

"It is a string of horrors. Three days ago, they brought here a man, who
was supposed to be only attacked with cholera. You have no doubt heard
speak of this personage. He is the lion-tamer, that drew all Paris to
the Porte-Saint-Martin."

"I know the man you mean. Called Morok. He performed a kind of play with
a tame panther."

"Exactly so; I was myself present at a similar scene, which a stranger,
an Indian, in consequence of a wager, was said at the time, jumped upon
the stage and killed the panther."

"Well, this Morok, brought here as a cholera-patient, and indeed with
all the symptoms of the contagion, soon showed signs of a still more
frightful malady."

"And this was--"

"Hydrophobia."

"Did he become mad?"

"Yes; he confessed, that he had been bitten a few days before by one
of the mastiffs in his menagerie; unfortunately, we only learnt this
circumstance after the terrible attack, which cost the life of the poor
fellow we deplore."

"How did it happen, then?"

"Morok was in a room with three other patients. Suddenly seized with a
sort of furious delirium, he rose, uttering ferocious cries, and rushed
raving mad into the passage. Our poor friend made an attempt to stop
him. This kind of resistance increased the frenzy of Morok, who threw
himself on the man that crossed his path, and, tearing him with his
teeth, fell down in horrible convulsions."

"Oh! you are right. 'Twas indeed frightful. And, not withstanding every
assistance this victim of Morok's--"

"Died during the night, in dreadful agony; for the shock had been so
violent, that brain-fever almost instantly declared itself."

"And is Morok dead?"

"I do not know. He was to be taken to another hospital, after being fast
bound in the state of weakness which generally