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Hostile Answers. In rebuttal, Romains produced a letter from Herriot's widow stating that her husband "had died perfectly calmly in all freedom of thought, as he had lived." Entering the fray, the Paris-Presse published a telephone interview with Mme. Herriot in which she added that "when the cardinal made his visit, my husband was no longer conscious, and could not recognize anybody."
Cardinal Gerlier retorted that Mme. Herriot "can affirm nothing," and insisted that at the time of his conversation with the dying Herriot, she "was at the far end of the room and could have heard very little." The Herriots' maid supported the cardinal, as did a nun who had been at the deathbed. While clericals and anticlericals exchanged broadsides, badgered Mme. Herriot offered a last line about her husband's death. Said she: "No one will ever know the truth."