--I wrote it half wild with the excitement of a
supper at the Rue Choiseul; I came home nearly distracted by a quarrel
with a Martogard--I cannot continue--was headed "Noir au Blanc," and
was an insulting comparison between "Negro Chivalry and the White Man's
Subserviency." An outrageously insolent contrast of Bonaparte with
Toussaint closed the paper, and occasioned a police visit to the office
of the journal, demanding the name and address of the writer. Of these
the editor knew nothing; and though he succeeded in establishing his
innocence, the journal was declared to be suppressed, and a heavy fine
imposed upon its conductors. I was resolved, at whatever sacrifice,
to pay this, and consulted with Sanson how best to set about it. My
receipts at that time were as follows: from the "Presse" sixty francs
daily; fifty from the "Vendee;" the theatrical journal paid me one
hundred weekly; and the "Drapeau," up to the time of its suppression,
forty francs for every article, irrespective of its length. In a word,
each day's revenue averaged above a hundred and fifty francs, which it
was my custom to spend to the last sou-piece.

To sustain the character of wealth and fortune, I not only toiled
without ceasing, but I entered on a career of extravagance almost as
distasteful to me. Margot loved display of every kind. The theatrical
passion seemed to suggest a desire for every species of notoriety;
and to please her I set up a costly equipage, with showy liveries and
magnificent horses. The dinners I gave were of the most extravagant
kind; the bouquets I presented to her each evening at the theatre would
have in their price supported a family. My earnings could never have
compassed such outlay, and to meet it I became a gambler,--a practised,
a professional gambler,--playing with all the calm-headed skill of a
deep calculator. Fortune vacillated; but, on the whole, I was a large
winner. The fine decreed against the "Drapeau" was fifteen thousand
francs,--a large sum for me, and far above what any effort at
accumulation could possibly compass. So, indeed, Sanson told me, and
laughed at the bare thought of my attempting it. There was, however, he
said, a possibility--a mere possibility--of a way to meet this, and he
would think over it. I gave him a day or two, and at the end of that
time he told me his plan. It was this. There was a certain minister
high in the confidence of Bonaparte, whose counsels had not been always
followed