My Memoirs Part 46

"M. de Labruyere insisted, saying that such an attestation was the more necessary to them (the _Matin_) and that my intervention as Mme.

Steinheil's representative would be easier to explain than his own, and he added that if I did not write that letter, I might be ruining Mme.

Steinheil's cause, for then M. Bunau-Varilla would abandon that cause and _would turn against her_.

"Mme. Steinheil was present. Struck by that argument, she advised me to write the letter. And I wrote the letter, after submitting a rough copy of it to M. de Labruyere.

"'To M. de Labruyere, at the _Matin_: In contradiction of a statement published by a morning newspaper, it was not you who opened Couillard's pocket-book, but I, acting as Mme. Steinheil's representative.'

"Taking advantage of a moment when my head was turned, my wife seized the letter and tore it. M. de Labruyere again began to intimidate me, and I consented to write a second letter absolutely the same as the first....

"I believe it my duty to add that on November 24th, 1908, it was not only the argument that I would ruin Mme. Steinheil's cause if I did not write the letter which made me write it, but also the following threat: M. de Labruyere said to me: _If you refuse to write the letter I am asking for, I will publish in the_ Matin, _a semi-official report declaring that it was you who opened Couillard's pocket-book, and bearing the signature of M. Lecondimer, who was a witness, and my own.

There will be mentioned your surname and Christian names and your position as travelling postal sorter_. And he added: You can guess the effects that will make on your administration....

"(Signed) CHABRIER.

ANDRe.

SIMON."

(_Dossier_ Cote 3014)

Needless to say, Mme. Chabrier fully corroborated these statements by her husband adding this typical remark: "She was so exasperated to hear M. de Labruyere declaring that he would make trouble for M. Chabrier at the Post Office, unless he wrote the letter, that she said to him: 'If my husband gets into trouble, you will have to deal with me. I'll blow your brains out!'"

(_Dossier_ Cote 3025)

Two other persons were called upon to give evidence concerning the Ghirelli-Rosselli-Jacq revelations. One was poor Firmin, who, called before M. Andre on January 22, 1909, declared:

"I have been Mme. Steinheil's companion first in Cell 11, then in Cell 12, which we still share. All I have noticed is that at night, as a rule, she does not sleep, but calls for her daughter, and opens the window at times, saying that her head hurts, that she is stifling.

"During the day she constantly talks to me about her daughter....

"She has several times told me that from the time she returned from Bellevue her house was invaded by journalists... I have heard her say how grieved she was to have accused Wolff, and to have hurt her old Mariette. She constantly repeats that she is innocent... to me... to M.

Desmoulin, to Pastor Arboux...."

_Question._ "Have you any knowledge that, when Alba Ghirelli was released, Mme. Steinheil may have given her a letter or entrusted her with a mission?"

_Answer._ "I have no knowledge of such a thing. Now, ever since Mme.

Steinheil has been in the same cell with me, I have never left her one moment alone. Besides, such a thing seems to me the more impossible since Mme. Steinheil and I have only heard of Alba Ghirelli's release, several days after the release had taken place.

"(Signed) SIMON.

ANDRe.

FIRMIN."

(_Dossier_ Cote 3027)

The other witness was M. Desmoulin, who on January 20 declared before M.

Andre:

"For many years past I have been visiting the poor, the patients in hospitals, and also prisoners. About a year ago the Minister of the Interior gave me permission to visit the prisons of the Seine Department, allowing me free access to my proteges. One of these, at Saint-Lazare, is a girl called Firmin. I visited her early in December 1908, and found that she had been placed in Cell 12, and having entered that cell I saw near Firmin a woman in mourning, and guessed that she was Mme. Steinheil.... Since then I have seen both several times. Of Mme. Steinheil I have always asked, 'And you, Madame, do you feel well?'

And she has always replied, 'Oh, yes, Monsieur, my conscience always keeps me up!' Every time she has emphatically a.s.serted her innocence in convincing tones. She has always expressed her great grief at being separated from her daughter. That throughout has seemed to me the most noticeable point about her mental state. Sometimes, I have seen her cry, especially when she talked about her daughter.

"(Signed) SIMON.

DESMOULIN.

ANDRe."

(_Dossier_ Cote 3014)

There is one side to this "Ghirelli Affair," as it has been called, which the reader has probably not realised. Not only did those revelations published by the _Matin_ still further exasperate public opinion against me, but they added many days, perhaps even weeks, to my imprisonment. Judge Andre's investigations into the absurd matter took a long time to make--they represent 112 pages added to the already voluminous Dossier; I have read, re-read... and counted them!--and meanwhile the _Instruction_ was delayed, and therefore my imprisonment made longer... And I counted the days, the hours, at Saint-Lazare!

To sum up: Ghirelli denied, on oath, all her damaging statements, and other witnesses proved that they could never have been made; Firmin and M. Desmoulin gave evidence which fully vindicated me; there remained Marie Anne Jacq, who spoke against me and clung to her statements.

Well, I will give the end of Jacq's story:

She remained in cell No. 12 for several weeks. One day--the _Instruction_ was over then--Jacq spontaneously came to me, burst into tears, and said: "Forgive me, Madame... You are too kind to me. To think that you know all I have spoken against you, and that you have not reproached me once. You give me your coffee, the eggs that your daughter brings... I can't stand it any longer. Listen. Ghirelli and Rosselli gave me wine, and I love wine, for life is hard here, Madame, and they told me what to say if I was called before the judge about you. I hated you, at the time; those two women said you had murdered your mother, that they knew it... and I promised anything they asked me.... And then, I thought: If I am called by the judge, it will mean leaving this wretched prison for a few hours, and that's a change.... It was dreadful of me to lie as I have done.... Look here, you must let me scrub the cell for you, in future, I will light your fire, help you in every way, only, forgive me, Madame...."

Of course, I forgave her.

When she returned from the cell, that day, she looked greatly depressed.

I asked her what had happened: "Ah!" she sighed, "they are sending me to the prison at Rennes.... Please, please, do something, speak to some one.... I want to remain near you, I want to stop here...."

But poor Jacq had to go. When she was about to leave the cell, she looked round, slowly, sadly. Then she came to me and said: "I heard you say to Sister Leonide, 'It must be nice to see a flower....' Well, Madame, I picked one up in the chapel, when I swept there to-day." And she gave me a tiny branch of mimosa.... "You won't think too harshly of me, will you? Good-bye, Madame...."

We were both weeping, she kissed my hand, and tottered away.

I kept the little branch of mimosa for four months. It became smaller and smaller, but it still looked like a flower, and the little gold pearls were the only beautiful things in that horrible cell.

The mimosa stood in an empty penny ink bottle, before a small frame containing a photograph of my mother, and one of Marthe when she was a baby.

CHAPTER XXIV

SAINT-LAZARE

Towards the end of December 1907, after I had been about one month in prison, I had a long conversation with Maitre Aubin and also with M.

Desmoulin. I told them all I knew about the dreadful mystery.

When M. Desmoulin heard all the details concerning the mysterious personage whom my late husband and I had always called the "German," the pearl necklace given me by President Faure, and about the "doc.u.ments,"

he eagerly said to me: "I will speak to the Prime Minister about this, and within a few days you will be a free woman again!"

Days went by. M. Desmoulin came frequently, but alas! instead of good tidings he gradually broke the news to me that an immediate release was out of the question!