At the time we were upon the most intimate and friendly terms,
D'Ivernois wrote to me from Geneva, putting me upon my guard against
the young Hungarian who had taken up his residence in my neighborhood;
telling me he was a spy whom the minister of France had appointed to
watch my proceedings. This information was of a nature to alarm me the
more, as everybody advised me to guard against the machinations of
persons who were employed to keep an eye upon my actions, and to
entice me into France for the purpose of betraying me.
To shut the mouths, once for all, of these foolish advisers, I
proposed to Sauttern, without giving him the least intimation of the
information I had received, a journey on foot to Pontarlier, to
which he consented. As soon as we arrived there I put the letter
from D'Ivernois into his hands, and after giving him an ardent
embrace, I said: "Sauttern has no need of a proof of my confidence
in him, but it is necessary I should prove to the public that I know
in whom to place it." This embrace was accompanied with a pleasure
which persecutors can neither feel themselves, nor take away from
the oppressed.
I will never believe Sauttern was a spy, nor that he betrayed me;
but I was deceived by him. When I opened to him my heart without
reserve, he constantly kept his own shut, and abused me by lies. He
invented I know not what kind of story, to prove to me his presence
was necessary in his own country. I exhorted him to return to it as
soon as possible.
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