ol of blood, left no doubt by the
bleeding head. Misfortunes never come alone: while seeking for a cloth
about the chamber, he struck the lamp with his forehead, and
extinguished it.

Meanwhile the night was advancing; already the window of the chamber
began to glimmer with the coming day. Furious with the obstacles which
heaven and earth seemed to set in his way, the deputy-prosecutor
determined to solve the mystery. Approaching the bed again, he called
upon his bride by the tenderest names, and endeavoured to awake her,
yet she continued to sleep. Taking her in his arms, he embraced her
passionately; but she slept on, and appeared insensible to all his
caresses. What could this mean? Was it the feint of a bashful girl, or
was he himself dreaming? It was growing lighter; and in the hope of
dispelling the odious enchantments with which he was surrounded, M.
Desalleux went to the window, and drew aside the blinds and curtains
to let in the new day. Then the unhappy lawyer perceived for the first
time why the blood refused to be dried up. Blinded by his anger in his
combat with the head of Peter Leroux, and while he had supposed
himself to be chastising his disturber, he had, in fact, been striking
the head of his unfortunate bride. The blows had been dealt so quickly
and with such violence, that she had died without a sigh, or, perhaps,
without her assailant's hearing one, in the fury of the struggle.

We leave to psychologists to explain this phenomenon; but on seeing
that he had killed his bride, he was seized with a violent fit of
laughter, which attracted the attention of his mother-in-law, who
knocked gently at the door, and desired to know the cause of the
disturbance. On hearing the voice of the mother of his wife, his
terrible gaiety increased. Running to open the door, he seized her by
the arm, and drawing her to the side of the bed, pulled back the
curtains, and revealed to her the terrible spectacle; after which his
laughter grew still more furious, until at length he sank exhausted on
the floor.

Alarmed at the shrieks of the mother, all the inmates of the house
became witnesses of the scene, the report of which spread rapidly
through the city. The same morning, upon a warrant from the
procureur-general, M. Desalleux was conducted to the criminal prison
of Orleans; and it has since been remarked, as a singular coincidence,
that his cell was the same that had been occupied by Peter Leroux up
to the day of