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This speech calmed me. I was firmly convinced in my own mind that

Justine, and indeed every human being, was guiltless of this

murder. I had no fear, therefore, that any circumstantial

evidence could be brought forward strong enough to convict her.

My tale was not one to announce publicly; its astounding horror

would be looked upon as madness by the vulgar. Did any one indeed

exist, except I, the creator, who would believe, unless his

senses convinced him, in the existence of the living monument of

presumption and rash ignorance which I had let loose upon the

world?