Daily National Democrat

A French Romance of the Present Day.—The Paris correspondent of the New Orleans Picayune tells the following strange story:

A young man, originally from the country, was about to be married to a Parisian lady a few weeks since, and among the other numerous legal preliminaries to be gone through with, he had to obtain his father's written consent, and also a certificate of the death of his mother, who was supposed to have departed this life many years ago. Upon asking his father for the certificate, the latter became much embarrassed, and finally told his son that his mother was not dead, "but had been a raving maniac for many years, and had been concealed that she might not agitate the feelings of her children. The son obtained an interview with the supposed lunatic, but she only stared at him, not even replying to his questions. It became necessary to tell the story to the bride's family, who insisted upon seeing the crazy woman. As soon as the latter saw herself surrounded by witnesses, she said in a calm tone "I am not mad. My husband becoming the prey of a most unreasoning jealousy, and I, being helpless and alone in this secluded mansion, to escape his continual scenes of violence, and to avoid the fear I was continually under of being assassinated by him, (he threatened more than once to kill me.) I say I feigned madness in the hope of enjoying something like quiet. I preferred languishing in prison all my life to being hourly harassed by these dreadful scenes of jealousy." The persons assembled at first thought this accusation was but an additional evidence of the distracted state of her mind, but being doubtful, the medical faculty were called in. Before they could arrive at a decision the husband, who had been in a state of great agitation ever since his wife charged him with her sequestration, became raving mad. His papers were inspected, and it appeared that he had for years been crazy—a monomaniac—his frenzy arising from jealousy. He was carried to a madhouse, and his wife signed the marriage contract of her son!