CXXXVIII. TO GEORGE SAND 10 December, Friday, 10 o’clock in the evening, 1869

Dear master, good as good bread,

I have just sent you by telegraph this message: “To Girardin.” La Liberte will publish your article, at once. What do you think of my friend Saint-Victor, who has refused to write an article about it because he finds “the book bad”? you have not such a conscience as that, have you?

I continue to be rolled in the mud. La Gironde calls me Prudhomme. That seems new to me.

How shall I thank you? I feel the need of saying affectionate things to you. I have so many in my heart that not one comes to the tips of my fingers. What a splendid woman you are and what a splendid man! To say nothing of all the other things!