CROWNED BY THE FRENCH ACADEMY

"Tartufes Hypocrites " Spurned by the one man who might have saved him, Saniel cries at the departing Parisian cab. "And he say he acts out of conscience "

Besieged by creditors, Saniel needs funds immediately -- even though his prospects with the hospital are practically assured. He has barely slept and has used every stratagem to earn a franc here and there -- medical practice, lectures, and private lessons -- but he has worked himself to the bone -- and apparently for naught

"The weak kill themselves; the strong fight to their last breath," he tells himself. Yet his last resort, the loan-shark Caffie, refuses him, too -- but then offers a strange, startling solution: marriage to a widow