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Prologue

PARIS, OCTOBER 15, 1917--ANTON FISHERMAN AND HENRY WALES, FOR THE INTERNATIONAL NEWS SERVICE

Shortly before 5 ahteen men--most of them officers of the French army--climbed to the second floor of Saint-Lazare, the wo a torch to light the lamps, they stopped in front of cell 12

Nuns were charged with looking after the prison Sister Leonide opened the door and asked that everyone wait outside as she entered the cell, struck a ainst the wall, and lit the lamp inside Then she called one of the other sisters to help

With great affection and care, Sister Leonide draped her arled to waken, as though disinterested in anything According to the nun's stateed from a peaceful slumber She remained serene when she learned her appeal for clemency, made days earlier to the president of the republic, had been denied It was impossible to decipher if she felt sadness or a sense of relief that everything was co to an end

On Sister Leonide's signal, Father Arbaux entered her cell along with Captain Bouchardon and her lawyer, Maitre Clunet The prisoner handed her lawyer the long letter that she had spent the previous riting, as well as two s

She drew on black stockings, which seerotesque under the circuh-heeled shoes adorned with silk laces As she rose from the bed, she reached for the hook in the corner of her cell, where a floor-length fur coat hung, its sleeves and collar trimmed with the fur of another animal, possibly fox She slipped it over the heavy silk kimono in which she had slept

Her black hair was disheveled She brushed it carefully, then secured it at the nape of her neck She perched a felt hat on top of her head and tied it under her chin with a silk ribbon, so the ould not blow it out of place when she stood in the clearing where she was to be led

Slowly, she bent down to take a pair of black leather gloves Then, nonchalantly, she turned to the newcomers and said in a calm voice:

"I am ready"

Everyone departed the Saint-Lazare prison cell and headed toward the auto, to take the squad