en free, out of prison.

I am happy to inform you that immediately upon my leaving the prison
I occupied a very honourable position, to which I could hardly have
aspired, conscious of my humble qualities. The entire press met me
with unanimous enthusiasm. Numerous journalists, photographers, even
caricaturists (the people of our time are so fond of laughter and clever
witticisms), in hundreds of articles and drawings reproduced the story
of my remarkable life. With striking unanimity the newspapers assigned
to me the name of "Master," a highly flattering name, which I accepted,
after some hesitation, with deep gratitude. I do not know whether it is
worth mentioning the few hostile notices called forth by irritation and
envy--a vice which so frequently stains the human soul. In one of these
notices, which appeared, by the way, in a very filthy little newspaper,
a certain scamp, guided by wretched gossip and baseless rumours about
my chats in our prison, called me a "zealot and liar." Enraged by the
insolence of the miserable scribbler, my friends wanted to prosecute
him, but I persuaded them not to do it. Vice is its own proper
punishment.

The fortune which my kind mother had left me and which had grown
considerably during the time I was in prison has enabled me to settle
down to a life of luxury in one of the most aristocratic hotels. I have
a large retinue of servants at my command and an automobile--a splendid
invention with which I now became acquainted for the first time--and I
have skilfully arranged my financial affairs. Live flowers brought to me
in abundance by my charming lady visitors give to my nook the appearance
of a flower garden or even a bit of a tropical forest. My servant, a
very decent young man, is in a state of despair. He says that he had
never seen such a variety of flowers and had never smelled such a
variety of odours at the same time. If not for my advanced age and the
strict and serious propriety with which I treat my visitors, I do not
know how far they would have gone in the expression of their feelings.
How many perfumed notes! How many languid sighs and humbly imploring
eyes! There was even a fascinating stranger with a black veil--three
times she appeared mysteriously, and when she learned that I had
visitors she disappeared just as mysteriously.

I will add that at the present time I have had the honour of being
elected an honourary member of numerous humanitarian organisations
such