anished; the voice of the fiend was still. Now I knew what my evil
Destiny wanted; I had either to yield to it or to perish. And now too
you understand the secret of all my conduct, Olivier. But do not
believe, because I must do that for which there is no help, that
therefore I have entirely lost all sense of pity, of compassion, which
is said to be one of the essential properties of human nature. You know
how hard it is for me to part with a finished piece of work, and that
there are many for whom I refuse to work at all, because I do not wish
their death; and it has also happened that when I felt my spectre would
have to be exorcised on the following day by blood, I have satisfied it
with a stout blow of the fist the same day, which stretched on the
ground the owner of my jewel, and delivered the jewel itself into my
hand.'

"Having told me all this Cardillac took me into his secret vault and
granted me a sight of his jewel-cabinet; and the king himself has not
one finer. A short label was attached to each article, stating
accurately for whom it was made, when it was recovered, and whether by
theft, or by robbery from the person accompanied with violence, or by
murder. Then Cardillac said in a hollow and solemn voice, 'On your
wedding-day, Olivier, you will have to lay your hand on the image of
the crucified Christ and swear a solemn oath that after I am dead you
will reduce all these riches to dust, through means which I shall then,
before I die, disclose to you. I will not have any human creature,
and certainly neither Madelon nor you, come into possession of this
blood-bought treasure-store.' Entangled in this labyrinth of crime, and
with my heart lacerated by love and abhorrence, by rapture and horror,
I might be compared to the condemned mortal whom a lovely angel is
beckoning upwards with a gentle smile, whilst on the other hand Satan
is holding him fast in his burning talons, till the good angel's smiles
of love, in which are reflected all the bliss of the highest heaven,
become converted into the most poignant of his miseries. I thought of
flight--ay, even of suicide--but Madelon! Blame me, reproach me,
honoured lady, for my too great weakness in not fighting down by an
effort of will a passion that was fettering me to crime; but am I not
about to atone for my fault by a death of shame?

"One day Cardillac came home in uncommonly good spirits. He caressed
Madelon, greeted me with the most friendly good-will,