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.

"After my liberation, I proceeded to Naples, and mingling in all the
pleasures of that luxurious city, in addition to my dexterity with the
dice, I acquired equal skill at the cards. In the study of them I found
my sight possessed of a faculty not before imagined. The sharpness of
my sight soon enable me to discover at once all the cards of a pack
distinctly from each other, and I speedily was master of every popular
game. This superiority made me heedless of my disbursements; I could at
any time supply my purse at the gaming-table, and as a consequence of
that independence, I surrendered myself to enjoyment, and for years
lived in riot and revelry, unmolested by the Demon.

"An unvaried career of licentiousness was not, however, my lot. An
irascible countryman of yours, a lieutenant of the royal navy, who was
introduced to me at a party, suddenly seemed to scowl at me with the
visage of the demon, as we were in the heat of an argument, and I struck
him in the face. A duel was the consequence, and he disabled me in the
right arm. That accident destroyed my sleight-of-hand with the dice.
Thus was one source of my income cut off; a slight fever soon afterwards
left its dregs in my eyes, I could no longer distinguish the cards with
my wonted accuracy, and thus fell into poverty.

"Disturbed at the blight which had fallen on my fortunes, I shunned the
haunts of the gay and reckless, and became a cicerone to the travellers;
for my reputation as a libertine had reached Poland, and I was ashamed
to return home.