Principles are good. Pity is better.

The zeal of the Concierge has caused a terrible tragedy. It is a heartbreaking affair, and one that involves. however, incidents of a comical courtliness, that which today moves the peaceful inhabitants of the Porte-Dauphine district.

A concierge refuses a tenant to enter his wife's home on the pretext that they are not married in church. So far, we can only laugh at the pretensions of a Cerberus to interfere in the intimate lives of her tenants. But where the matter becomes complicated is when we learn that the unfortunate husband, the object of this ostracism, is a sick man, subject to violent attacks of malaria and who, in despair at not being able to kiss his wife and child, disappeared, declaring to one of his comrades that he was going to kill himself.

The police commissioner of Porte-Dauphine was informed of the disappearance of this poor man, Mr. Eugène Lepage, 39 years old, glassworker, who, unable to sleep at his wife's house, 17, avenue Bugeaud, had rented a small room in a hotel on rue d'Avron.

An unfortunate intervention

We investigated this strange fact this morning. We learned that the missing man had already abandoned his wife four years ago. He does not enjoy all his faculties. But last March, his indulgent wife welcomed her back into the modest room she occupied on the sixth floor. It was then that the concierge intervened. Having learned that the couple had not passed through the church, she flew into a violent rage and intended to defend the worker's access to "her" building before the marriage was regularized in front of the altar. In vain, the husband and wife tried to persuade her, she remained inflexible.

The couple therefore decided to comply with the wishes of the concierge. Steps had been taken at the church. The woman had gone to consult a priest, who, taking pity on the poor household in disarray, had intervened with the concierge so that the husband and wife could be authorized to live again under the same roof without further delay. The concierge had consented, but changing her mind, she would have previously demanded that her tenants confess and take communion, at least that is what the neighbors say.

Ms. Lepage files a complaint

The concierge, Ms. Dezondre, expressed her surprise to us this morning at seeing this affair come to light, and provided us with the following explanations:

— I have nothing to do with the disappearance of Mr. Lepage. He's sick. He had disappeared many times before. I am convinced he will come back. Besides, I only know, as a tenant, his wife, in whose name the rent was paid. Everything was arranged so that the household would soon be reunited: the husband was to return to his wife the very evening of her disappearance. We saw him in the street that day; his wife had gone to meet him. Everything else is gossip...

Ms. Dezondre does not want to tell us more, and ends by expressing the wish to be rid of tenants who "cause her a lot of trouble after having received nothing but good things from her." Let us add that Ms. Lepage wrote to Public Prosecutor to request legal assistance in the prosecution she is bringing.