burgeoned forth to welcome it.

"Perhaps not," said Lefevre. "Come and sit down and let us talk."

They were retiring from the window when Embro's voice again sounded at
Lefevre's elbow--"Come now, Lefevre; what's the meaning of that Paris
case?"

"What Paris case?"

Embro answered by handing him the paper. He took it, and read as
follows:--

"About a month ago a strange case of complete mental collapse was
received into the Hôtel-Dieu. A fresh healthy girl, of the working
class, about twenty years of age, and comfortably dressed,
presented herself at a police-station near the Odéon and asked for
shelter. As she did not appear to be in full possession of her
mental faculties, she was sent to the Hôtel-Dieu, where she
remained in a semi-comatose condition. Her memory did not go
farther back than the hour of her application at the
police-station. She was entirely ignorant of her previous history,
and had even forgotten her name. The minds of the medical staff of
the Hôtel-Dieu were very much exercised with her condition; but it
was not till about a week ago that they succeeded in restoring to
any extent her mental consciousness and her memory. She then
remembered the events immediately preceding her application to the
police. It had come on to rain, she said, and she was hurrying
along to escape from it, when a gentleman in a cloak came to her
side and politely offered to give her the shelter of his umbrella.