have done, of all the appeals that I have again made for you and for our children.
If the light that we have awaited for more than three years is not shown now, it will shine forth in a future that we know not.
As I told you in one of my letters, our children are growing; their situation, that of us all, is terrible; the situation I am supporting only by supreme effort is becoming absolutely impossible to bear. That is why I have placed our lot, our children's lot, in the hands of the Minister of War, asking that at last an end may be made of our appalling martyrdom. That is why I have again asked the Minister of War to restore to us our honor.
I await his answer with the greatest impatience, and I am hoping that this appalling torment may have at last an end.
I embrace you, as I love you, with all the power of my love, with all my tenderness, as also I embrace our adored children.
Your devoted
Alfred.
A thousand kisses to your dear parents, to all our family.
25 January, 1898.
My dear and good Lucie:
I shall not write to you at length to-day; I suffer too deeply for you and for our children; I feel too keenly all your appalling anguish, your frightful martyrdom. At the very thought of it my heart beats heavily, as if weighed down by unshed tears. No human word could lessen the horror of your anguish.
