Meanwhile, journalists were once more besieging the house in the Impasse Ronsin, and my daughter, finding that they stopped at nothing to gain admittance, resorted to a very simple and effective method of getting rid of them. She turned the garden hose on the invaders.
Scores of persons—especially foreigners—came to the house, and when Marthe was absent the doorkeeper allowed herself to be bribed into showing the visitors round the apartments!
Days went by; weeks, months... endless, weary months, and the Tardivel clue yielded no results. It was a dreadful blow to me, but a worse was to fall. Ever since March 30th, 1909, the Procureur had had before him all the documents of the "Steinheil case." On June 18th five magistrates of the Chambre des Mises en Accusation, found a true bill against me, and on July 8, nearly eight months after my arrest, I was informed, at the request of the Procureur, that a release was out of the question, and that I would be tried in the Paris Court of Assize....
The dreadful news was broken to me in the Director's room. M. Desmoulin was there with M. Pons. They both looked very uneasy, but made merely commonplace remarks. Then Maître Aubin rushed in with Maître Landowski.
"I am delighted, Madame!" he exclaimed. "I will vindicate you, I'll prove your innocence. Rejoice, Madame, rejoice!"
I believed that I was going to be released. "When do I leave Saint-Lazare?" I asked eagerly.
"Towards the end of October, I should think. You'll have been tried by that time, and acquitted, of course."
I understood.... A trial.... Several months in prison.... I heard a rumbling noise. Everything seemed to whirl around me and I swooned.
When I came back to my senses I saw Sister Léonide by my side. She signed to me not to speak, and helped me back to my cell.
For several days I was a prey to the deepest despair. Then came the relief of tears....