- "Hold up thy head!" it said to me. "Look the world
in the face! Strong in thy conscience go straight onward! Rise! The trial is bitter, but it must be undergone!"
I cannot write any longer, for I want this letter to leave to-night.
I embrace you a thousand times, as I love you, as I adore you, my darling Lucie.
A thousand kisses to the children. I dare not say more to you; the tears come to my eyes when I think of them. Write to me soon.
Alfred.
Give my love to all the family. Tell them that I am to-day what I was yesterday, having but one care, to do my duty.
The Commissary of the Government has informed me that Me. Demange will defend me. I think that I shall see him to-morrow. Write to me to the prison. Your letters, like mine, will pass through the hands of the government commissioner.
Thursday morning, 7 December, 1894.
I am waiting with impatience for a letter from you. You are my hope; you are my consolation; were it not for you life would be a burden. At the bare thought that they could accuse me of a crime so frightful, so monstrous, my whole being trembles; my body revolts against it. To have worked all my life for one thing alone, to avenge my country, to struggle for her against the infamous ravisher who has snatched from us our
