moments preceding sleep, an hour when images rise in our minds
confusedly, and often, in the silence of the night, thought acquires
some magical power. He gratified his mother's wishes; he bought the
thirty acres of meadow land; he married a young lady of Beauvais to
whom his present want of fortune forbade him to aspire. With a hundred
thousand francs he planned a lifetime of happiness; he saw himself
prosperous, the father of a family, rich, respected in his province,
and, possibly, mayor of Beauvais. His brain heated; he searched for
means to turn his fictions to realities. He began with extraordinary
ardor to plan a crime theoretically. While fancying the death of the
merchant he saw distinctly the gold and the diamonds. His eyes were
dazzled by them. His heart throbbed. Deliberation was, undoubtedly,
already crime. Fascinated by that mass of gold he intoxicated himself
morally by murderous arguments. He asked himself if that poor German
had any need to live; he supposed the case of his never having
existed. In short, he planned the crime in a manner to secure himself
impunity. The other bank of the river was occupied by the Austrian
army; below the windows lay a boat and boatman; he would cut the
throat of that man, throw the body into the Rhine, and escape with the
valise; gold would buy the boatman and he could reach the Austrians.
He went so far as to calculate the professional ability he had reached
in the use of instruments, so as to cut through his victim's throat
without leaving him the chance for a single cry.

[Here Monsieur Taillefer wiped his forehead and drank a little water.]

Prosper rose slowly, making no noise. Certain of having waked no one,
he dressed himself and went into the public room. There, with that
fatal intelligence a man suddenly finds on some occasions within him,
with that power of tact and will which is never lacking to prisoners