To Mr. Etienne Prieur, Amiens Seminary

July 9, 1818

Sir,

I have just received your letter, dated July 7.  You acknowledge receiving my last letter, without mentioning those I had previously sent you.  I note that you have not mentioned nor replied to the earlier ones.

How can you treat the evils which you know I have been the victim of for twenty-three years as mere chimeras?  You had always before regarded them as evils created by humans. Today, you want them to be products of the imagination, which grandfather time will erase. Do you, sir, believe that I have completely lost my mind, that I cannot think and reason? If my sufferings are of my imagination, any remedy you have will be fruitless. If my torment is real, why do you now tell me that it is a fiction? If the latter, only God can cure me. If the former, you are, clearly, guilty of not delivering me from my prosecutors, as per the promise you have so often made to me before. 

You still want to persuade me that your cousin, Papon Lomini, never had any power over me. If that is what you want me to believe, where did all these cruel torments come from, in your absence? Answer me all these questions. I need to know this. Why did you not write out the names of Pinel, Madame Vandeval, and Moreau in full? Why only include their initials, as you did with your signature? Why all this circumspection?

Please, I beg you, answer me. 

I await the pleasure of seeing you again.

Your affectionate servant,

M.B.