I can only repeat this wish: it is that all this sorrow may have at last an end, that this infernal torture of all the minutes may soon be over; but if you do as I have told you, as it is your duty to do, since I command it, I have no doubt that you shall come to see the end of your appalling martyrdom, the martyrdom of our children. I embrace you, as I love you, with all the power of my love; I embrace also our dear and adored children. Your devoted ALFRED. Kisses to your dear parents, to all. * * * * * _4 February, 1898._ Dear Lucie: I have nothing to add to the numerous letters that I have written to you during the past two months; all this medley of confusion may be summed up in a few words: I have appealed to the high justice of the President of the Republic, to that of the Government, in asking for a new trial, for the life of our children, for the end of this appalling martyrdom. I have made an appeal to the loyalty of the men who caused me to be condemned, to bring about this new trial. I am waiting feverishly, but with confidence, to learn that at last our terrible suffering is to have an end. I embrace you as I love you, as I embrace our dear children. Your devoted ALFRED. A thousand kisses to your dear parents, to all our friends. * * * * * _7 February, 1898._ Dear Lucie: I have just received your dear letters of December, and my heart is breaking; it is rent by the consciousness of so much unmerited suffering. I have told you that the thought of you, of the children, always raises me up, quivering with anguish, with a supreme determination, from the thought of all that we hold most precious in the world--our honor, that of our children--to utter this cry of appeal, that grows more and more thrilling--the cry of a man who asks nothing but justice for himself and those he loves, and who has the right to ask it. For the last three months, in fever and in delirium, suffering martyrdom night and day for you, for our children, I have addressed appeal on appeal to the Chief of the State, to the Government, to those who caused me to be condemned, to the end that I may obtain justice after all my torment, an end to our terrible martyrdom; and I have not been answered. To-day I am reiterating my former appeals to the Chief of the State and to the Government, with still more energy, if that could be; for you must be no longer subjected to such a martyrdom; our children must not grow up dishonored; I can no longer agonize in a black hole for an abominable crime that I did not commit. And now I am waiting; I expect each day to hear that the light of truth is to shine for us at last. I embrace you, as I love you, with all the power of my love; also our dear and adored children. Your devoted ALFRED. A thousand, thousand kisses to your dear parents, to all our family. * * * * * _25 February, 1898._ Dear Lucie: