"'Twice in the course of my life have I seen this man, under very fatal
circumstances--twice have I owed him safety, once of the soul, once of
the body.

"'Alas! he might perhaps have saved my poor child, but he came too
late--too late.

"'Before he left me, he wished to divert me from the intention of
dying--for he knew all. But his voice was powerless. My grief, my regret,
my discouragement, were too much for him.

"'It is strange! when he was convinced of my resolution to finish my days
by violence, some words of terrible bitterness escaped him, making me
believe that he envied me--my fate--my death!

"'Is he perhaps condemned to live?

"'Yes; he has, no doubt, condemned himself to be useful to humanity, and
yet life is heavy on him, for I heard him repeat one day, with an
expression of despair and weariness that I have never forgotten: "Life!
life! who will deliver me from it?"

"'Is life then so very burdensome to him?

"'He is gone. His last words have made me look for my departure with
serenity. Thanks to him, my death shall not be without fruit.

"'Thanks to him, these lines, written at this moment by a man who, in a
few hours, will have ceased to live, may perhaps be the parents of great