ellent!" said the doctor, in a low tone; then speaking to a keeper
who stood near him, he said, "Send the coach around to the garden-gate
to prevent the necessity of taking our recovered patient through the
different courts, filled with those less fortunate than himself."

As frequently occurs in cases of madness, Morel had not the least idea
or recollection of the aberration of intellect under which he had
suffered.

Shortly afterwards, Morel, with his wife and daughter, ascended the
_fiacre_, attended also by a surgeon of the establishment, who, for
precaution's sake, was charged to see him comfortably settled in his
abode ere he left him; and in this order, and followed by a second
carriage, conveying their friends, the lapidary quitted Bicetre without
entertaining the most remote suspicion of ever having entered it.

"And do you consider this poor man effectually cured?" asked Madame
Georges of the doctor, as he led her to the coach.

"I hope so, at least; and I wished to leave him wholly to the beneficial
effects of rejoining his family, from whom it would now be almost
dangerous to attempt to separate him; added to which, one of my pupils
will remain with him and give the necessary directions for his regimen
and treatment. I shall visit him myself daily, until his cure is
confirmed, for not only do I feel much interested in him, but he was
most particularly recommended to me when he first came here by the
_charge d'affaires_ of the Grand Duke of Gerolstein."

A look of intelligence was exchanged between Germain and his mother.

Much affected with all they had seen and heard, the party now took leave
of the doctor, reiterating their gratification at having been present
during so gratifying a scene, and their grateful acknowledgments for the
politeness he had shown them in conducting them over the establishment.

As the doctor was reentering the house, he was met by one of the
superior officers of the place, who said to him,--

"Ah, my dear M. Herbin, you cannot imagine the scene I have just
witnessed; it would have afforded an inexhaustible fund of reflection
for so skilful an observer as yourself."

"To what do you allude?"

"You are aware that we have here two females, a mother and a daughter,
who are condemned to death, and that their execution is fixed for
to-morrow. Well, in my life, I never witnessed such a cool indifference
as that displayed by the mother; she must be a female fiend!"

"You allud