family for what they have done for me. Embrace them for me.
I will stop, for every memory of the happiness I have known among you all revives my grief.
To have sacrificed everything for my Country, to have served her with entire devotion, with all my strength, with all my intelligence, and then to be accused of such a frightful crime—no, no!
Write to me often; write long letters. My best moments are those when I receive news of you all.
A thousand kisses for you and for the children.
Your devoted
Alfred.
Tuesday, 18 December, 1894.
My good, dear one:
At last I am coming to the end of my sufferings, to the end of my agony. To-morrow I shall appear before my judges, my head high, my soul tranquil. The trial I have undergone, terrible as it has been, has purified my soul. I shall return to you better than I was before. I want to consecrate to you, to my children, to our dear families, all the time I have yet to live.
As I have told you, I have passed through awful crises. I have had moments of furious, actual madness at the thought of being accused of a crime so monstrous.
I am ready to appear before the soldiers as a soldier who has nothing for which to reproach himself. They will see it in my face; they will read my soul; they will know that I am innocent; as all will who know me.
Devoted to my country, to whom I have consecrated all my strength, all my intellect, I have nothing to fear.
