That this book may prove useful to others is my most fervent wish.
I have forgiven my enemies, and I trust those whom I have wronged may forgive me.
As I write these lines, my daughter is resting near me, lying on a couch. She sleeps, and her young husband is painting by the window.
There reigns ideal peace and serenity in this room, which overlooks a great English meadow, so fresh, so green.... It seems almost unbelievable after the years of maddening turmoil I have lived through....
My little Marthe will be a mother in a few months" time.... Her child will one day read these Memoirs. May he, when that time comes, learn--like all other readers of this book, I trust--to understand my life, to forgive whatever weaknesses have been mine, and to love his mother"s mother, a woman who has made mistakes in life, but who, G.o.d knows, has paid all too dearly for them.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Plan of the first floor of the house in the Impa.s.se Ronsin, where the double murder was committed. Dotted line shows probable movements of the a.s.sa.s.sins.]