least, were more or hess the same as before. It was only when I was in Montmartre that bitter words rose in my heart.
I stayed eight days in Paris. Eight times I went back to the scene of that famous murder.
Eight times I stroked the tree and then sat on the bench.
Eight times, with closed eyes, I put together all I knew of the inquiry and my two trials.
Eight times I saw the ugly faces of all those swine who manufactured my conviction.
Eight times I whispered, 'This is where it all began, the theft of those fourteen years of your youth.'
Eight times I repeated, 'You have given up your revenge; that's fine; but never will you be able to forgive.'
Eight times I asked God that as a reward for my giving up my revenge the same kind of thing should never happen to anyone else.
Eight times I asked the bench whether the false witness and the shifty pig had cooked up their next statement in this very place.
Eight times I went away, less and less bowed down, so that the last time I walked off as straight and supple as a young man, whispering to myself, 'You won after all, man, since you're here, free, fit, beloved and master of your future. Don't go trying to find out what has happened to those others-they belong to your past. You're here, and that's chose to a miracle. And you can be sure that of all the people involved in this business, you're the happiest.'
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Henri Charriere ('Papillon') was born in the south of France in 1906. In 1933, having been convicted of a murder of which he steadfastly insisted he was innocent, he was transported to the French penal colony of Guiana. In the course of the next twelve years he made nine escape attempts-the last from the dread Devil's Island- and was finally granted sanctuary in Venezuela in 1945. His first volume of autobiography, _Papillon_, published in France in 1969, has since been translatede into every major language and has been a phenomenal best seller all around the world. The motion picture version stars Steve McQueen (as Papillon) and Dustin Hoffman.
Henri Charriere died in Madrid July 29, 1973.
