I have always considered that, to create imaginary personages, one must have deeply studied mankind as, in order to speak a language, it is necessary to have learned it with care. Not having yet attained the age of invention, I content myself with simple narration. I beg the reader, therefore, to believe in the reality of the present story, of which all the characters, except the heroine, are actually living at this moment. There are also, in Paris, witnesses of the greater part of the facts which I have placed on record and their testimony can be added to my own, should the latter be deemed insufficient. Owing, however, to an accidental and personal circumstance, I am the only possessor of the essentials for writing this narrative; because, to me alone were confided those final details, Without which it would be impossible to render the tale either inter esting or complete.
{{comment.content}}