Kisses to all our family.
* * * * *
_2 July, 11 o’clock in the evening._
My dear Lucie:
I had been without news of you since the seventh of March. This evening
I received your letters of March and of the beginning of April; they,
probably, had returned to France; then, later, those which you sent
directly to the Ministry. I had already written a few words to you this
morning, but I make haste to answer your letters by the same post.
Forgive me again if, by my first letters, I caused you pain. I ought to
have hidden my atrocious sufferings from you. But my excuse is that
there is no human grief comparable to that which we suffer.
I hope that you have received since then my many long letters; they must
have reassured you as to my physical and mental condition. My conviction
has never varied; it is founded in my conscience, and in my reason,
which tells me that all will be found out. But I lacked patience.
Let us say no more of our sufferings. Let us simply do our duty, which
is to restore to our children the honor of a father who is innocent of
so abominable a crime.
I have received also letters bearing the same date from your dear
parents, and from different members of our families. Embrace them for me
and thank them. Tell Mathieu that my moral energy is as exalted as his
own.