About half-past one, his tongue thickened and his eyes grew dim; he struggled some time against drunkenness and sleepiness, announced that he was going to describe the Russian campaign, muttered the name of the Emperor, and slid under the table.
"You may believe me, if you will," said Frau Meiser to her husband, "this is not a man who has come into our house; it's the devil!" "The devil!" "If not, would I have advised you to give him a million?
I heard a voice saying to me, 'If you do not obey the messenger of the Infernal powers, you will both die this very night.' It was on account of that, that I called him up stairs.

Ah! if we had been doing business with a man, I would have told you to contest it in law to our last cent." "As you please! So you're still making sport of my visions ?" "Forgive me, Claus dear; I was a fool!" "And I've concluded I was, too." "Poor innocent! Perhaps you too thought this was Colonel Fougas ?" "Certainly!" "As if it were possible to resuscitate a man! It is a demon, I tell you, who assumed the shape of the Colonel, to rob us of our money!" "What can demons do with money ?" "Build cathedrals, to be sure!" "But how is the devil to be recognized when he is disguised ?" "First by his cloven-foot--but this one has boots on; next by his clipped ear." "Bah! And why ?" "Because the devil's ears are pointed, and, in order to make them round, he has to cut them." Meiser stuck his head under the table and uttered a cry of horror.
"It's certainly the devil!" said he.

"But how did he happen to let himself go to sleep ?" "Perhaps you did not know that when I came back from the cellar, I dropped into my chamber?
I put a drop of holy water into the Port; charm against charm, and he is fallen." "That's splendid! But what shall we do with him, now that we have him in our power ?" "What is done with demons in Scripture?
The Saviour throws them into the sea." "The sea is a long way from here." "But, you big baby, the public wells are just by!" "And what will be said to-morrow, when the body is found ?" "Nothing at all will be found; and even the check that we signed, will be turned into tinder." Ten minutes later, Herr and Frau Meiser were lugging something toward the public wells, and soon dame Catharine murmured, _sotto voce_, the following incantation: "Demon, child of hell, be thou accursed! "Demon, child of hell, be thou dashed headlong down! "Demon, child of hell, return to hell!" A dull sound--the sound of a body falling into water, terminated the ceremony, and the two spouses returned to their domicil, with the satisfaction that always follows the performance of a duty.
Nicholas said to himself: "I didn't think she was so credulous!" "I didn't think he was so simple!" thought the worthy Kettle, wedded wife of Claus.
They slept the sleep of innocence.

Oh, how much less soft their pillows would have seemed, if Fougas had gone home with his million! At ten o'clock the next morning, while they were taking their coffee and buttered rolls, the president of the bank called in, and said to them: "I am greatly obliged to you for having accepted a draft on Paris instead of a million in specie, and without premium, too.

That young Frenchman you sent to us is a little brusque, but very lively, and a good fellow.".