I assure you it is as much as your life is worth to speak about it; and, as for bringing people together or inviting them to dinner, you must first find out if they are Dreyfusards or anti-Dreyfusards, otherwise you risk your crockery. The other day I was talking to an old gentleman who seemed very level-headed on the start. Perhaps I might learn something! I ventured to say, "Do tell me the real facts about the Dreyfus affair." Had I told him that he was sitting on a lighted bomb the effect on him could not have been more startling. "Do you know that he is the greatest traitor that has ever lived? He gave the _bordereau_ to the German government." "What is a _bordereau_?" I asked. He seemed astonished that I did not know what a _bordereau_ was. "It is a list of secret documents. He gave this three years ago." "Who discovered it?" I inquired. "It was found in the paper-basket of the German Embassy, and Monsieur Paty du Clam knew about it." "And then?" "Well, then he was arrested and brought before the _conseil de guerre_, found guilty, and degraded before the army." "Did he confess that he wrote the _bordereau_?" "No! On the contrary, he swore he had not, but the generals decided that he had. So he _must_ have!" "The generals may have been mistaken," I said. "Such things have happened." "Oh no. It is impossible that these officers could have been mistaken." "What did he say when he was accused?" I continued. "I hardly think that he was told of what he was accused." "Do you mean to say," I cried, "that he did not know that he was suspected of high treason?" "He must have known that he wrote the _bordereau_," he replied. "_If_ he wrote it," I interrupted. "Was he not condemned only on his handwriting?" "Yes," replied my elderly friend, whose head I had thought level. "But to discover the truth one had to resort to all sort of ruses in order to convict him and convince the public." "Why did the generals want to condemn him, if he was not guilty?" I asked. "They had to condemn some one," said my friend, who was beginning to be dreadfully bored. "The generals found Dreyfus guilty, therefore Dreyfus was guilty without doubt." "Do you think that if an injustice has been done it will create a great indignation in other countries and will affect the coming Exposition?" I inquired. "Ah," said my wise friend, "_that_ is another thing. I think myself that it would be prudent to do something toward revising the judgment; everything ought to be done to make the Exposition a success." And there the matter rested. I doubt if his friendship stood this test. Any one who takes Dreyfus's defense is looked upon as an enemy in the camp. I devour the papers. _Le Matin_ seems to be the only unprejudiced one. J. reads the others, but I have no patience with all their cooked-up and melodramatic stories.