“Next day the lady died.  My grief was such that I could not but look upon her.  Her waiting gentlewoman consented, and I was shown into the apartment where she lay, at the moment when the attendants were preparing the body.  Such a spectacle!  I flew in anguish again to the gaming-house; I diced again, as if a furor had possessed me; I staked largely, and won every thing.  All the guests and the plundered were amazed at my success, and collected in crowds around.  The pressure upon me was inconvenient.  I turned to request the spectators would stand back.  At my elbow again stood the Demon, ‘GO ON,’ were his words.  I was petrified, and he was away.

“Unable to proceed with the effects of the surprise, my losing antagonist imagined that I was making some sign to a secret confidant, but not daring to express his suspicion, only requested the dice should be changed.  They were so.  The new ones were not cubes, and they were uneven in weight.  I lost back the greatest part of my winnings; and I also lost character.  It was observed that I threw the casts in a different manner from that in which I had thrown the first dice.  A suspicion arose among the spectators that I did so on purpose to lose, and in a few evenings I was stripped of the greater part of my fortune, for every evening the dice were changed, and sometimes often in the course of a night.  At last I quitted Paris, with the matured character of a thorough libertine and an unfair gamester.

“I took my passage at Marseilles, for Naples, and at the time appointed for embarkation, went to the mole to go on board.

“It was evening; the sun had set some time; the beacon of the port was lighted; and the dawn of the moon was brightening the eastern horizon.  The populace, who were enjoying the cool air, had not however dispersed, but were standing in numerous groups around.  A feeling at the moment came upon me that the Demon was near, and I resolved if it appeared again to employ my sword, although at the time persuaded that it was but a form impalpable.  In the same moment I saw it before me; out flew my sword, and in the instant I felt that it pierced a mortal heart; but instead of the old visionary-man, I beheld a boatman dead and bleeding at my feet.  A wild cry arose.  The mob seized me, and I was carried to prison.  Next day the case was investigated before the court of justice.  I related the simple fact.  A glib advocate doubted my asseverations; but the spectators, who were numerous, gave the fullest credit to the story, and I was spared the doom of a murderer, because the judges were of opinion that I could have no motive to commit the crime, and had perpetrated the deed under some influence of temporary lunacy.

“That was the wanton assassination with which all Europe rang at the time, and was ascribed to the extravagance of my reprobate nature.