“I know what great confidence the Emperor placed in you, and I know how fond he was of you. I know how devoted you were to him. Not everybody here likes you; but, as for me, do not forget that I feel for you the same attachment that my father did, and I hope that you will often come to see me and speak to me of my poor father.”
Then we went on to discuss the situation. The Prince confided to me certain secrets regarding the organization of the party; then he asked me what the intentions of his father might have been on this or that point.
I answered.
“Well, then,” he said, “I shall act in the same way when the opportunity occurs, and, as regards what is now going on, I intend to make a complete change in a year’s time, and to take the initiative myself, which is my due.”
After having given an account to the Prince of the plans of my friends, finances, and the elections, he repeated that he depended on me ... and I was to come and see him often.
(Signed) A. de La Chapelle.
Letter from Émile Zola to the Comte de La Chapelle.
Médan, July 15, 1892.
Dear Sir,
I thank you heartily for your kindness in sending me the reply which you were good enough to send to the question of the “Figaro.”