But it will be terrible to submit to that shameful humiliation! I should rather stand before an execution squad. I do not fear death, but the thought of contempt is terrible.
However it may be, I pray you tell them all to life their heads as I lift mine; to look the world in the face without flinching. Never bow your heads—proclaim my innocence aloud.
Now, my darling, I am going anew to lay my head upon my pillow to think of you.
I kiss you; I press you to my heart.
Alfred.
Embrace the little ones tenderly for me.
Will you please deposit two hundred francs with the clerk of the prison?
25 December, 1894.
My Darling: