Note: Although this story has essentially no speculative elements, apart from the rather peculiar mindset of the killer, and is not especially horrific either, it nonetheless belongs to fantastic literature simply by virtue of having been included in it for a long time, alongside Hoffmann's more clearly fantastic tales.

Synopsis: Madeleine de Scudery is an elderly single woman noted as a poet, and a friend of King Louis and his mistress Madame de Maintenon (she is actually a historical figure). She finds herself enveloped in a murky affair when rich men begin to be killed in the street and robbed of fancy jewelry. The killer sends her a present of jewelry; then the jeweler Cardillac is stabbed to death. Cardillac's assistant Olivier is accused of his murder and begs Mlle. de Scudery for help. She manages to disentangle matters by talking to people, convincing them to tell their stories and to behave reasonably.