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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10670-0.txt b/10670-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c9dcc0 --- /dev/null +++ b/10670-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4382 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10670 *** + + WITH ZOLA IN ENGLAND + + A STORY OF EXILE + + + TOLD BY + + ERNEST ALFRED VIZETELLY + + + + TO + VIOLETTE AND TO VICTOR + TO DORA AND TO BOTH MARIES + DEAR WIFE AND ROMPING DAUGHTER + I LOVINGLY INSCRIBE + THIS LITTLE BOOK + + + +He begged for Light! . . Lo, Darkness fell, + And round him cast its stifling pall! +In vain he clamoured! Ev'ry Hell + Poured forth its fumes to drown his call. + +He cried for Truth! . . Lo, Falsehood came, + In robes of Impudence array'd, +Polluting Patriotism's name, + Degrading Honour to a trade. + +He asked for Justice! . . Lo, between + Him and the judgment-seat there rose +The Sword of Menace, ever keen + To smite the braggart War-Wolf's foes! + +Light, Truth, and Justice all denied, + He struggled on 'mid threat and blow-- +A brave Voice battling by his side-- + Till Error's minions struck him low. + +Yet is his faith not dead, nor mine: + O'er deepest gloom, o'er worst distress, +Ever the mighty Sun doth shine + Aglow with Truth and Righteousness. + +The blackest clouds are rent at last; + And the divine resistless flame +Through all, some morn, its blaze shall cast, + The Wrong disclose, the Right proclaim! + + E. A. V. + +February 23, 1898. + + +[Printed in 'The Star' on the morrow of M. Zola's condemnation in Paris] + + + + PREFACE + +All that I claim for this little book, reprinted from the columns of 'The +Evening News,' is the quality of frankness. I do not desire to check or +disarm criticism, but I have a right to point out that I have performed +my work rapidly and have largely subordinated certain literary +considerations to a desire to write my story naturally and simply, in +much the same way as I should have told it in conversation with a friend. +Very rarely, I think, have I departed from this rule. + +The book supplies an accurate account of Emile Zola's exile in this +country; but some matters I have treated briefly because he himself +proposes to give the world--probably in diary form--some impressions of +his sojourn in England with a record of his feelings day by day whilst +the great campaign in favour of the unfortunate Alfred Dreyfus was in +progress. + +First, however, M. Zola intends to collect in a volume all his published +declarations, articles and letters on the Affair. Secondly, he will +recount in another volume his trials at Paris and Versailles; and only in +a third volume will he be able to deal with his English experiences. The +last work can scarcely be ready before the end of 1900, and possibly it +may not appear until the following year. And this is one of the reasons +which have induced me to offer to all who are interested in the great +French writer this present narrative of mine. Should the master's +promised record duly appear, my own will sink into oblivion; but if, for +one or another reason, M. Zola is prevented from carrying out his plans, +here, then, will at least be found some account of one of the most +curious passages in his life. And then, perchance, my narrative may +attain to the rank of _memoire pour servir_. + +I have said that I claim for my book the quality of frankness. In this +connection I may point out that I have made in it a full confession of +certain delinquencies which were forced on me by circumstances. I trust, +however, that my brother-journalists will forgive me if I occasionally +led them astray with regard to M. Zola's presence in England; for I did +so purely and simply in the interests of the illustrious friend who had +placed himself in my hands. + +That M. Zola should have applied to me directly he arrived in London will +surprise none of those who are aware of the confidence he has for several +years reposed in me. A newspaper referring to our connection recently +called the great novelist 'my employer.' But there has never been any +question of employer or employed between Mr. Zola and me. I should +certainly never think of accepting remuneration for any little service I +might have been able to render him; nor would he dream of hurting my +feelings by offering it. No. The simple truth is that for some years now +I have translated M. Zola's novels into English, and that I have taken my +share of the proceeds of the translations. For the rest our intercourse +has been purely and simply that of friends. + +It is because, I believe, I know and understand Emile Zola so well, that +I never once lost confidence in him throughout the events which led to +his exile in England. That exile, curiously enough, I foreshadowed in a +letter addressed to the 'Star' some months before it actually began. +When, however, one has been intimate with the French for thirty years or +so it is not, to my thinking, so very difficult to tell what is likely to +happen in a given French crisis. The unexpected has to be reckoned with, +of course; and much depends on ability to estimate the form which the +unexpected may take. Here experience, familiarity with details of +contemporary French history, and personal knowledge of the men concerned +in the issue, become indispensable. + +On January 16, 1898, three days after M. Zola's famous 'J'accuse' letter +appeared in 'L'Aurore,' and two days before the French Government +instructed the Public Prosecutor to proceed against its author, I wrote +to the 'Westminster Gazette' a long letter dealing with M. Zola's +position. In this letter, which appeared in the issue of the 19th, I +began by establishing a comparison between Zola and Voltaire, whose +action with regard to the memory of Jean Calas I briefly epitomised. +Curiously enough at that moment M. Zola, as I afterwards learnt, was +telling the Paris correspondent of the 'Daily Chronicle' that the +opposition offered to his advocacy of the cause of Alfred Dreyfus was +identical with that encountered by Voltaire in his championship of Calas. +This was a curious little coincidence, for I wrote my letter without +having any communication with M. Zola respecting it. It contained some +passes which I here venture to quote. In a book dealing with the great +novelist these passages may not be out of place, as they serve to +illustrate his general attitude towards the Dreyfus case. + +'Truth,' I wrote, 'has been the one passion of Emile Zola's life.* "May +all be revealed so that all may be cured" has been his sole motto in +dealing with social problems. "Light, more light!"--the last words gasped +by Goethe on his death-bed--has ever been his cry. Holding the views he +holds, he could not do otherwise than come forward at this crisis in +French history as the champion of truth and justice. Silence on his part +would have been a denial of all his principles, all his past life. . . . +Against him are marshalled all the Powers of Darkness, all the energy of +those who prefer concealment to light, all the enmity of the military +hierarchy which has never forgotten "La Debacle," all the hatred of the +Roman hierarchy which will never forgive "Lourdes" and "Rome." And the +fetish of Patriotism is brandished hither and thither, rallying even +free-thinkers to the cause of concealment, while each and every appeal +for light and truth is met by the clamorous cry: "Down with the dirty +Jews!" + + * He himself wrote these very words seventeen months later in + his article 'Justice,' published in Paris on his return from + exile. + +'For even as Jean Calas was guilty of being a Protestant so is Alfred +Dreyfus guilty of being a Jew, and at the present hour unhappily there +are millions of French people who can no more believe in a Jew's +innocence than their forerunners could believe a Protestant to be +guiltless. Zola, for his part, is no Jew, nor can he even be called a +friend of the Jews--in several of his books he has attacked them somewhat +violently for certain tendencies shown by some of their number--but most +assuredly does he regard them as fellow-men and not as loathsome animals. +In the same way Voltaire wrote pungent pages against the narrow practices +of Calvinism and yet espoused the causes of Calas and Sirven, even as +Zola has espoused that of Dreyfus. The only remaining question is whether +Zola will prove as successful as his famous forerunner. [Nearly the whole +of the European press was at that stage expressing doubt on this point.] +In this connection I may say that I regard Zola as a man of very calm, +methodical, judicial mind. He is no ranter, no lover of words for words' +sake, no fiery enthusiast. Each of his books is a most laborious, +painstaking piece of work. If he ever brings forward a theory he bases it +on a mountain of evidence, and he invariably subordinates his feeling to +his reason. I therefore venture to say that if he has come forward so +prominently in this Dreyfus case it is not because he _feels_ that wrong +has been done, but because he is absolutely _convinced_ of it. Doubtless +many of the expressions in his recent letter to President Faure have come +from his heart, but they were in the first place dictated by his reason. +It is not for me here and at the present hour to speak of proofs, however +great may be public curiosity; but most certainly Zola has not taken up +this case without what he considers to be abundant proof. I do not say he +will be able to prove each and every item of his great indictment, but +when you wish to bring everything to light it is often necessary to cast +your net so wide that none shall escape it, none linger in concealment +with their actions unexplained. And I take it that whatever be the +verdict of Zola's countrymen, whether or not Alfred Dreyfus be again and +this time absolutely proved guilty . . . Zola himself will have done good +work in striving to bring the whole truth to light so that it shall be as +evident to one and all as the very sun itself. And this, when all is +said, is really Zola's one great object in this terrible business. + +'I may add that he is risking far more than his great predecessor risked +in favour of Calas. Voltaire pleaded from his retirement on the Swiss +frontier; Zola pleads the cause he has adopted on the very spot, on the +very scene of all the agitation. Anonymous assassins threaten him with +death in letters and postcards. Fanatical Jew-baiters march through the +streets anxious for an opportunity to wreck his house and murder not only +himself but his wife also in the sacred name of Patriotism.* Should their +menaces be escaped there remains the Assize Court with a jury that will +need to be brave indeed if it is to resist all the pressure of a +deliberately organised "terror." At the end possibly lie imprisonment, +fine, disgrace, ruin. How jubilantly some are already rubbing their hands +in the bishops' palaces, the parsonages, the sacristies of France! Ah! no +stone will be kept unturned to secure a conviction! But Emile Zola does +not waver. It may be the truth, the whole truth will only be known to the +world in some distant century; but he, anxious to hasten its advent and +prevent the irreparable, courageously stakes all that he has, person, +position, fame, affections, and friendships. . . . And this he does for +no personal object whatsoever, but in the sole cause of truth and +justice, ever repeating the cry common to both Goethe and himself: +"Light, more light!" + + * There is not the slightest doubt that M. Zola incurred the + greatest personal danger between January and April 1898. + M. Ranc, the old and tried Republican, who knows what danger + is, has lately pointed this out in forcible terms in the + Paris journal _Le Matin_. + +'Ah! to all the true hearts that have followed and loved him through +years of mingled blame and praise, hard-earned victory and unmerited +reviling, he is at this hour dearer even than he was before; for he has +now put the seal upon his principles, and to the force of precept has +added that of the most courageous personal example.' + +This then is what I wrote immediately after the publication of Zola's +letter 'J'accuse,' basing myself simply on my knowledge of the master's +character, of the passions let loose in France, and of a few matters +connected with the Dreyfus case, then kept secret but now public +property. And had I to write anything of the kind at the present time, I +should, I think, have but few words to alter beyond substituting the past +for the present or future tense. In one respect I was mistaken. I did not +imagine the truth to be quite so near at hand. Since January 1898, +however, nine-tenths of it have been revealed and the rest must now soon +follow. And I hold, as all hold who know the inner workings of l'Affaire +Dreyfus, that M. Zola's exile, like his letter to President Faure and his +repeated trials for libel, has in a large degree contributed to this +victory of truth. For by going into voluntary banishment, he kept not +only his own but also Dreyfus's case 'open,' and thus helped to foil the +last desperate attempts that were being made to prevent the truth from +being discovered. + +I should add that in the following pages I deal very slightly with +l'Affaire Dreyfus, on which so many books have already been written. +Indeed, as a rule, I have only touched on those incidents which had any +marked influence on M. Zola during his sojourn in this country. + + E. A. V. + +MERTON, SURREY. + June 1899. + + + + WITH ZOLA IN ENGLAND + + + + I + + ZOLA LEAVES FRANCE + +From the latter part of the month of July 1898, down to the end of the +ensuing August, a frequent heading to newspaper telegrams and paragraphs +was the query, 'Where is Zola?' The wildest suppositions concerning the +eminent novelist's whereabouts were indulged in and the most +contradictory reports were circulated. It was on July 18 that M. Zola was +tried by default at Versailles and sentenced to twelve months' +imprisonment on the charge of having libelled, in his letter 'J'accuse,' +the military tribunal which had acquitted Commandant Esterhazy. On the +evening of the 19th his disappearance was signalled by various telegrams +from Paris. Most of these asserted that he had gone on a tour to Norway, +a course which the 'Daily News' correspondent declared to be very +sensible on M. Zola's part, given the tropical heat which then prevailed +in the French metropolis. + +On the 20th, however, the telegrams gave out that Zola had left Paris on +the previous evening by the 8.35 express for Lucerne, being accompanied +by his wife and her maid. Later, the same day, appeared a graphic account +of how he had dined at a Paris restaurant and thence despatched a waiter +to the Eastern Railway Station to procure tickets for himself and a +friend. The very numbers of these tickets were given! + +Yet a further telegram asserted that he had been recognised by a +fellow-passenger, had left the train before reaching the Swiss frontier, +and had gaily continued his journey on a bicycle. But another newspaper +correspondent treated this account as pure invention, and pledged his +word that M. Zola had gone to Holland by way of Brussels. + +On July 21 his destination was again alleged to be Norway; but--so +desperate were the efforts made to reconcile all the conflicting +rumours--his route was said to lie through Switzerland, Luxemburg, and +the Netherlands. His wife (so the papers reported) was with him, and they +were bicycling up hill and down dale through the aforenamed countries. +Two days later it was declared that he had actually been recognised at a +cafe in Brussels whence he had fled in consequence of the threats of the +customers, who were enraged 'by the presence of such a traitor.' Then he +repaired to Antwerp, where he was also recognised, and where he promptly +embarked on board a steamer bound for Christiania. + +However, on July 25, the 'Petit Journal' authoritatively asserted that +all the reports hitherto published were erroneous. M. Zola, said the +Paris print, was simply hiding in the suburbs of Paris, hoping to reach +Le Havre by night and thence sail for Southampton. But fortunately the +Prefecture of Police was acquainted with his plans, and at the first +movement he might make he would be arrested. + +That same morning our own 'Daily Chronicle' announced M. Zola's presence +at a London hotel, and on the following day the 'Morning Leader' was in a +position to state that the hotel in question was the Grosvenor. Both +'Chronicle' and 'Leader' were right; but as I had received pressing +instructions to contradict all rumours of M. Zola's arrival in London, I +did so in this instance through the medium of the Press Association. I +here frankly acknowledge that I thus deceived both the Press and the +public. I acted in this way, however, for weighty reasons, which will +hereafter appear. + +At this point I would simply say that M. Zola's interests were, in my +estimation, of far more consequence than the claims of public curiosity, +however well meant and even flattering its nature. + +One effect of the Press Association's contradiction was to revive the +Norway and Switzerland stories. Several papers, while adhering to the +statement that M. Zola had been in London, added that he had since left +England with his wife, and that Hamburg was their immediate destination. +And thus the game went merrily on. M. Zola's arrival at Hamburg was duly +reported. Then he sailed on the 'Capella' for Bergen, where his advent +was chronicled by Reuter. Next he was setting out for Trondhiem, whence +in a few days he would join his friend Bjornstjerne Bjornson, the +novelist, at the latter's estate of Aulestad in the Gudbrandsdalen. +Bjornson, as it happened, was then at Munich, in Germany, but this +circumstance did not weigh for a moment with the newspapers. The Norway +story was so generally accepted that a report was spread to the effect +that M. Zola had solicited an audience of the Emperor William, who was in +Norway about that time, and that the Kaiser had peremptorily refused to +see him, so great was the Imperial desire to do nothing of a nature to +give umbrage to France. + +As I have already mentioned, the only true reports (so far as London was +concerned) were those of two English newspapers, but even they were +inaccurate in several matters of detail. For instance, the lady currently +spoken of as Mme. Zola was my own wife, who, it so happens, is a +Frenchwoman. At a later stage the 'Daily Mail' hit the nail on the head +by signalling M. Zola's presence at the Oatlands Park Hotel; but so many +reports having already proved erroneous, the 'Mail' was by no means +certain of the accuracy of its information, and the dubitative form in +which its statement was couched prevented the matter from going further. + +At last a period of comparative quiet set in, and though gentlemen of the +Press were still anxious to extract information from me, nothing further +appeared in print as to M. Zola's whereabouts until the 'Times' Paris +correspondent, M. de Blowitz, contributed to his paper, early in the +present year, a most detailed and amusing account of M. Zola's flight +from France and his subsequent movements in exile. In this narrative one +found Mme. Zola equipping her husband with a nightgown for his perilous +journey abroad, and secreting bank notes in the lining of his garments. +Then, carrying a slip of paper in his hand, the novelist had been passed +on through London from policeman to policeman, until he took train to a +village in Warwickshire, where the little daughter of an innkeeper had +recognised him from seeing his portrait in one of the illustrated +newspapers. + +There was something also about his acquaintance with the vicar of the +locality and a variety of other particulars, all of which helped to make +up as pretty a romance as the 'Times' readers had been favoured with for +many a day. But excellent as was M. de Blowitz's narrative from the +romantic standpoint his information was sadly inaccurate. Of his _bona +fides_ there can be no doubt, but some of M. Zola's friends are rather +partial to a little harmless joking, and it is evident that a trap was +laid for the shrewd correspondent of the 'Times,' and that he, in an +unguarded moment, fell into it. + +On the incidents which immediately preceded M. Zola's departure from +France I shall here be brief; these incidents are only known to me by +statements I have had from M. and Mme. Zola themselves. But the rest is +well within my personal knowledge, as one of the first things which M. +Zola did on arriving in England was to communicate with me and in certain +respects place himself in my hands. + +This, then, is a plain unvarnished narrative--firstly, of the steps that +I took in the matter, in conjunction with a friend, who is by profession +a solicitor; and, secondly, of the principal incidents which marked M. +Zola's views on some matters of interest, as imparted by him to me at +various times. But, ultimately, M. Zola will himself pen his own private +impressions, and on these I shall not trespass. It is because, according +to his own statements to me, his book on his English impressions (should +he write it) could not possibly appear for another twelve months, that I +have put these notes together. + +The real circumstances, then, of M. Zola's departure from France are +these: On July 18, the day fixed for his second trial at Versailles, he +left Paris in a livery-stable brougham hired for the occasion at a cost +of fifty francs. His companion was his _fidus Achates_, M. Fernand +Desmoulin, the painter, who had already acted as his bodyguard at the +time of the great trial in Paris. Versailles was reached in due course, +and the judicial proceedings began under circumstances which have been +chronicled too often to need mention here. When M. Zola had retired from +the court, allowing judgment to go against him by default, he was joined +by Maitre Labori, his counsel, and the pair of them returned to Paris in +the vehicle which had brought M. Zola from the city in the morning. M. +Desmoulin found a seat in another carriage. + +The brougham conveying Messrs. Zola and Labori was driven to the +residence of M. Georges Charpentier, the eminent publisher, in the Avenue +du Bois de Boulogne, and there they were presently joined by M. Georges +Clemenceau, Mme. Zola, and a few others. It was then that the necessity +of leaving France was pressed upon M. Zola, who, though he found the +proposal little to his liking, eventually signified his acquiescence. + +The points urged in favour of his departure abroad were as follows: He +must do his utmost to avoid personal service of the judgment given +against him by default, as the Government was anxious to cast him into +prison and thus stifle his voice. If such service were effected the law +would only allow him a few days in which to apply for a new trial, and as +he could not make default a second time, and could not hope at that stage +for fresh and decisive evidence in his favour, or for a change of tactics +on the part of the judges, this would mean the absolute and irrevocable +loss of his case. + +On the other hand, by avoiding personal service of the judgment he would +retain the right to claim a new trial at any moment he might find +convenient; and thus not only could he prevent his own case from being +closed against him and becoming a _chose jugee_, but he would contribute +powerfully towards keeping the whole Dreyfus affair open, pending +revelations which even then were foreseen. And, naturally, England which +so freely gives asylum to all political offenders, was chosen as his +proper place of exile. + +The amusing story of the nightgown tucked under his arm and the bank +notes sewn up in his coat is, of course, pure invention. A few toilet +articles were pressed upon him, and his wife emptied her own purse into +his own. That was all. Then he set out for the Northern Railway Station, +where he caught the express leaving for Calais at 9 P.M. Fortunately +enough he secured a first-class compartment which had no other occupant. + +M. Clemenceau had previously suggested to him that on his arrival at +London he might well put up at the Grosvenor Hotel, and it is quite +possible that the same gentleman handed him--as stated in the 'Times' +narrative--a slip of paper bearing the name of that noted hostelry. But, +at all events, this paper was never used by M. Zola. He has an excellent +memory, and when he reached Victoria Station at forty minutes past five +o'clock on the morning of July 19, the name of the hotel where he had +arranged to fix his quarters for a few days came readily enough to his +lips. + +There was, however, one thing that he did not know, and that was the +close proximity of this hotel to the railway station. So, having secured +a hansom, he briefly told the Jehu to drive him to the Grosvenor. At +this, cabby looked down from his perch in sheer astonishment. Then, +doubtless, in a considerate and honest spirit--for there are still some +considerate and honest cabbies in London--he tried to explain matters. At +all events he spoke at length. But M. Zola failed to understand him. + +'Grosvenor Hotel,' repeated the novelist; and then, seeing that the cabby +seemed bent on further expostulation, he resolutely took his seat in the +vehicle. This driver, doubtless after the fashion of certain of his Paris +colleagues, must be trying to play some trick in order to avoid a long +journey. It was as well, therefore, to teach him to refrain from trifling +with his 'fares.' + +However, cabby said no more, or if he did his words failed to reach M. +Zola. The reins were jerked, the scraggy night-horse broke into a +spasmodic trot turned out of the station, and pulled up in front of the +caravansary which an eminent butcher has done so much to immortalise. + +Zola was astonished at reaching his destination with such despatch, and +suddenly became conscious of the cabby's real motive in expostulating +with him. However, he ascended the steps, entered the hotel, produced one +of the few hundred-franc notes which his purse contained, and asked first +for change and afterwards for a bedroom. English money was handed to him +for his note, and the night porter carried cabby the regulation shilling +for the journey of a few yards which had been made. + +Then, as M. Zola had no luggage with him, he was requested to deposit a +sovereign with the hotel clerk and to inscribe his name in the register. +This he did, and the tell-tale signature of 'M. Pascal, Paris,' still +remains as a token of the accuracy of this narrative. + +Such, then, was the way in which M. Zola travelled across London, +obligingly passed on from policeman to policeman, and carrying a slip of +paper--a 'way-bill,' as it were--in his hand! As the above account was +given to me by himself, it will probably be deemed more worthy of credit +than the amusing romance which was so successfully palmed off on M. de +Blowitz of the 'Times.' + +Of his journey from Paris that night, he reclining alone in his +compartment as the Calais express rushed across the plains of Picardy +under a star-lit sky; of his embarking on board the little Channel boat +amidst the glimmer of lanterns, his transference to a fresh train at +Dover, followed by another and even faster rush on to London; of his +gloomy thoughts at this sudden severance from one and all, at speeding in +this lonely fashion into exile, and returning surreptitiously, as it +were, to the city where but a few years previously he had been received +as one of the kings of literature, he will ever retain a keen impression. + +It was at Victoria that his journey ended, even as it had ended in 1893; +but how changed the scene! He finds the station gaunt and well-nigh +deserted; the few passengers are gliding away like phantoms into the +morning air; the porters loiter around, and the Customs officers +discharge their duties in a perfunctory, sleepy way. No crowd of Pressmen +and sightseers is present; there are no delegates and address, and +flowers, and cheers as of yore. Only cabby, who expostulates, and who +doubtless thinks this Frenchman a bit of a crank to insist upon being +driven just around the corner! + +And at the hotel no army of servants appears to marshal the master to the +best suite of rooms on the principal floor. In lieu thereof comes a +doubtful greeting and a demand for a deposit of money, for fear lest he +should be some vulgar bilker. Then, once he is in the lift, he goes up +and up without stopping, until the very topmost floor is reached. And +afterwards he is marched along interminable passages, with walls painted +a crude, hideous shade of blue, so offensive to all artistic instinct as +verily to make one's gorge rise. Then at last he finds himself in a room +which, high as it is situated, is of lowly, common aspect. Yet he is only +too glad to reach it, and throw himself on the bed to rest awhile, and to +think. + +New experiences are awaiting him. He is far away from the mob that pelted +his windows with stones and yelled 'Conspuez! Conspuez!' whenever he left +his house. Here there is no hostility. Here quietude prevails, save for +the shrill whistles of arriving or departing trains. Yet he is also far +from the great majority of his affections and friendships. But at this +remembrance a fresh thought comes to him; he takes one of his visiting +cards from his pocket-book, pencils a few lines on it, and encloses it in +an envelope ready to be posted. Then he again lies down; tired as he is, +after his exciting day at Versailles and his wearisome night journey, he +soon falls soundly asleep. + + + + II + + IN LONDON + +On Tuesday, July 19, I went to London on business, and did not return to +my home in the south-western suburbs until nearly seven o'clock in the +evening. My wife immediately placed in my hands an envelope addressed to +me in the handwriting of M. Zola. At first, having noticed neither the +stamp nor the postmark, I imagined that the communication had come from +Paris. + +On opening the envelope, however, I found that it contained a card on +which was written in French and in pencil:-- + + + 'My dear confrere,--Tell nobody in the world, and particularly + no newspaper, that I am in London. And oblige me by coming to + see me to-morrow, Wednesday, at eleven o'clock, at Grosvenor + Hotel. You will ask for M. Pascal. And above all, absolute + Silence, for the most serious interests are at stake. + + 'Cordially, + 'EMILE ZOLA.' + + +I was for a moment amazed and also somewhat affected by this message, the +first addressed by M. Zola to anybody after his departure from France. +Since the publication of his novel 'Paris,' which had followed his first +trial, I had not seen him, and we had exchanged but few letters. I had +written to express my sympathy over the outcome of the proceedings at +Versailles, but owing to his sudden flitting my note had failed to reach +him. And now here he was in London--in exile, as, curiously enough, I +myself had foretold as probable some time before in a letter to one of +the newspapers. + +My first impulse was to hurry to the Grosvenor immediately, but I +reflected that I might not find him there, and that even if I did I might +inconvenience him, as he had appointed the following day for my call. So +I contented myself with telegraphing as follows: 'Pascal, Grosvenor +Hotel.--Rely on me, tomorrow, eleven o'clock.' And, as a precautionary +measure, I signed the telegram merely with my Christian name. + + +As I afterwards learnt, M. Zola had spent that day companionless, walking +about the Mall and St. James's Park, and purchasing a shirt, a collar, +and a pair of socks at a shop in or near Buckingham Palace Road, where, +knowing no English, he explained his requirements by pantomime. He had +further studied several street scenes, and had given some time to +wondering what purpose might be served by a certain ugly elongated +building, overlooking a drive and a park. There was a sentry at the gate, +but the place had such a gaunt, clumsy, and mournful aspect, that M. Zola +could not possibly picture it as the London palace of her most Gracious +Majesty the Queen. + +However, evening found him once more in his room at the Grosvenor; and +feeling tired and feverish he lay down and dozed. When he awoke between +nine and ten o'clock he perceived a buff envelope on the carpet near by +him. It had been thrust under the door during his sleep, and its presence +greatly astonished him, for he expected neither letter nor telegram. For +a moment, as he has told me, he imagined this to be some trap; wondered +if he had been watched and followed to London, and almost made up his +mind to leave the hotel that night. But when, after a little hesitation, +he had opened the envelope and read my telegram, he realised how +groundless had been his alarm. + +On the morrow, when I reached the Grosvenor and inquired at the office +there for M. Pascal, I was asked my name, on giving which I received a +note from M. Zola saying that he unexpectedly found himself obliged to go +out, but would return at 2.30 P.M. As I stood reading this note, I espied +a couple of individuals scrutinising me in what I deemed a most +suspicious manner. Both were Frenchmen evidently; they wore billycock +hats and carried stout sticks; and one of them, swarthy and almost +brigandish of aspect, had the ribbon of the Legion of Honour in his +buttonhole. It was easy to take these individuals for French detectives, +and I hastily jumped to the conclusion that they were on 'M. Pascal's' +track. + +To make matters even more suspicious, when, after placing Zola's note in +my pocket, I began to cross the vestibule, the others deliberately +followed me, and in all likelihood I should have fled never to return if +a well-known figure in a white billycock and grey suit had not suddenly +advanced towards us from the direction of the staircase. In another +moment I had exchanged greetings with M. Zola, and my suspicious +scrutinisers had been introduced to me as friends. One of them was none +other than M. Fernand Desmoulin. They had arrived from Paris that +morning, and were about to sally forth with M. Zola in search of Mr. +Fletcher Moulton, Q.C., to whom they had brought a letter of introduction +from Maitre Labori. + +Hence the note which M. Zola had already deposited for me at the hotel +office. Had I been a moment later I should have found them gone. + +My arrival led to a change in the programme. It was resolved to begin +matters with lunch at the hotel itself, to postpone the quest for Mr. +Fletcher Moulton until the afternoon. I made, at the time, a note of our +menu. The 'bitter bread of exile' consisted on this occasion of an +omelet, fried soles, fillet of beef, and potatoes. To wash down this +anchoretic fare M. Desmoulin and myself ordered Sauterne and Apollinaris; +but the contents of the water bottle sufficed for M. Zola and the other +gentleman. + +With waiters moving to and fro, nearly always within hearing, there was +little conversation at table, but we afterwards chatted in all freedom in +M. Zola's room just under the roof. Ah! that room. I have already +referred to the dingy aspect which it presented. Around Grosvenor Hotel, +encompassing its roof, runs a huge ornamental cornice, behind which are +the windows of rooms assigned, I suppose, to luggageless visitors. From +the rooms themselves there is nothing to be seen unless you throw back +your head, when a tiny patch of sky above the top line of the cornice +becomes visible. You are, as it were, in a gloomy well. The back of the +cornice, with its plaster stained and cracked, confronts your eyes; and +with a little imagination you can easily fancy yourself in a dungeon +looking into some castle moat. + +'_Le fosse de Vincennes_,' so M. Zola suggested, and that summed up +everything. Yet it seemed to him very appropriate to his circumstances, +and he absolutely refused to exchange rooms with M. Desmoulin, who was +somewhat more comfortably lodged. + +The appointments of M. Zola's chamber were, I remember, of a summary +description. There were few chairs, and so one of us sat on the bed. We +succeeded in procuring some black coffee, though the chambermaid regarded +this as a most unusual 'bedroom order' at that hour of the day; and when +M. Desmoulin had lighted a cigar, his friend a pipe, and myself a +cigarette, a regular Council of War was held. [N.B.--M. Zola gave up +tobacco in his young days, when it was a question of his spending +twopence per diem on himself, or of allowing his mother the wherewithal +to buy an extra pound of bread.] + +The council dealt mainly with two points--first, what was M. Zola to do +in England? Should he go into the country, or to the seaside, or settle +down in the London suburbs? Since he wished to avoid recognition, it +would be foolish for him to remain in London, particularly at an hotel +like the Grosvenor. Then, for my benefit, the legal position was set +forth, as well as the object of taking Maitre Labori's letter to Mr. +Fletcher Moulton. + +The chief point was, Could the French Government in any way signify the +judgment of the Versailles Court to M. Zola personally while he remained +in Great Britain? If the French officials could legally do nothing of +that kind, there would be less necessity for M. Zola to court retirement. + +After the hurly-burly of _l'affaire Dreyfus_, he certainly needed some +rest and privacy, but the question was whether retirement would be a +necessity or a mere matter of convenience. Now the choice of a place of +sojourn depended on the answer to the second question, and it was +resolved, _nem. con._, that M. Desmoulin, who spoke a little English and +knew something of London, should forthwith drive to Mr. Fletcher +Moulton's house in Onslow Square, S.W., in accordance with the address +given on M. Labori's letter. M. Desmoulin's friend, on his side, was to +return to Paris that afternoon by the Club train. So, the council over, +both these gentlemen went off, leaving M. Zola and myself together. + +We had a long and desultory chat, now on the Dreyfus affair generally, +now on M. Zola's personal position, the probable duration of his exile, +and so forth. He himself did not think that he would remain abroad beyond +October at the latest, and as there might be a delay if not a difficulty +in getting any clothes sent to him from Paris, he proposed to make a few +purchases. + +It was then that he told me how he had already bought a shirt, collar, +and socks on the previous day. + +'I had nothing but what I was wearing,' said he. 'I had been to +Versailles and had sat perspiring in the crowded court; then I had spent +the night travelling. I looked dirty, and I felt abominably +uncomfortable. So I go out, yesterday morning, and see a shop with +shirts, neckties, collars, and socks in the window. I go in; I take hold +of my collar, I pull down my cuffs, I tap my shirt front. The shopman +smiles; he understands me. He measures my neck; he gives me a shirt and +some collars. But then we come to the socks, and I pull up my trousers +and point to those I am wearing. He understands immediately. He is very +intelligent. He climbs his steps and pulls parcels and boxes from his +shelves. + +'Here are socks of all colours, dark and light, spotted, striped, in +mixtures, in cotton, in wool, some ribbed and some with silk clockings. +But they are huge! I look at one pair; it is too big; he shows me another +and another; they are still of a larger size. Then, impatient, and +perhaps rather abruptly, I hold out my fist for the man to measure it, +and thus gauge the length of my foot as is done in Paris. But he does not +understand me. He draws back close to the shelves as if he imagines that +I want to box him. And when I again lift my foot to call his attention to +its size, he shows even greater concern. Fortunately an idea comes to me. +I take one of the mammoth socks that are lying on the counter and fold +parts of it neatly back, so as to make it appear very much smaller than +it is. Then the shopman suddenly brightens, taps his forehead, climbs his +steps again, and pulls yet more boxes and parcels from his shelves. And +here at last are the small socks! So I choose a pair, and pay the bill. +And the man bows his thanks, well pleased, it seems, to find that in +thrusting out my fist and raising my foot I had been actuated by no +desire to injure him.' + +I was still chuckling over M. Zola's anecdote when M. Desmoulin returned +from his journey to Onslow Square. He had there interviewed a smart boy +in buttons, who had informed him that his learned master was out of town +electioneering, and might not be home again for a week or two. Desmoulin +had, therefore, retained possession of Maitre Labori's note of +introduction. + +I now remembered what I ought to have recalled before--namely that Mr. +Fletcher Moulton was at that moment a candidate for the parliamentary +representation of the Launceston division of Cornwall. Under such +circumstances it was unlikely that his advice would be available for some +little time to come. And so all idea of applying to him was abandoned. It +may be that this narrative, should it meet the learned gentleman's eye, +will for the first time acquaint him with what was intended by M. Zola, +acting under Maitre Labori's advice. + +M. Zola, I should add, remained most anxious to secure an English legal +opinion on his position, and I therefore suggested to him that I should +that evening consult a discreet and reliable friend of mine, a solicitor. +We, of course, well knew that there could be no extradition, but it was a +point whether a copy of the Versailles judgment might not be legally be +placed in M. Zola's hands, under such conventions as might exist between +France and Great Britain. + +This, I thought, could be ascertained within the next forty-eight hours, +and meantime M. Zola might remain where he was, for I could not well +offer him an asylum in my little home. My connection with him as his +English translator being so widely known, newspaper reporters were +certain to call upon me, and what ever precautions I might take, his +presence in my house would speedily be discovered. On the other hand, M. +Desmoulin wished to go to Brighton or Hastings, but, in my estimation, +both those places, crowded with holiday-makers, were not desirable spots. + +Leaving the Grosvenor, the three of us discussed these matters while +strolling up Buckingham Palace Road. It was a warm sunshiny afternoon, +and the street was full of people. All at once a couple of ladies passed +us, and one of them, after turning her head in our direction, made a +remark to her companion. + +'Did you hear that?' Desmoulin eagerly inquired. 'She spoke in French!' + +'Ah!' I replied. 'What did she say?' + +'"Why," she exclaimed, "there's M. Zola!" Our secret is as good as gone +now! It will be all over London by to-morrow!' + +We felt somewhat alarmed. Who could those ladies be? For my part I had +scarcely noticed them. Desmoulin opined, however, that they might +perchance be French actresses, members possibly of Madame Sarah +Bernhardt's company, which was then in London. And again he urged the +necessity of immediate departure. They must go to Hastings, Brighton, +Ramsgate--some place at all events where the author of 'J'accuse' would +incur less chance of recognition. + +To me it seemed that some quiet, retired country village would be most +suitable. In any town M. Zola would incur great risk of being identified. +Moreover his appearance was conspicuous, his white billycock, his +glasses, his light grey suit, his rosette of the Legion of Honour, his +many characteristic gestures all attracted attention. If anything was to +be done he must begin by Anglicising his appearance. But whatever I might +urge I found him stubborn on that point; and, as for departure from +London, he preferred to postpone this until I should have seen my friend +the solicitor. + +'Everything is as good as lost!' cried M. Desmoulin. 'How foolish, too, +of Clemenceau to have sent you to a swell hotel in a fashionable +neighbourhood! I am certain there are other French people staying at the +Grosvenor--I heard somebody talking French there this morning.' + +This again might lead to unpleasantness, and I could see that the master +was gradually growing anxious. By this time, however, we had reached St. +James's Park, and there, as we seated ourselves on some chairs beside the +ornamental water, I led the conversation into another channel by +producing an evening newspaper, and reading therefrom successive +narratives of how M. Zola had sailed for Norway, how he had taken train +at the Eastern Terminus in Paris, and how he had been bicycling through +the Oberland on his way to some mysterious Helvetian retreat. Then we +laughed--ah! those journalists!--and fears were at an end. + +The ducks paddled past us, the drooping foliage of the island trees +stirred in the warm breeze. On a bench near at hand a couple of vagrants +sat dozing, with their toes protruding through their wretched footgear. +Then a soldier, smart and pert, strolled up, a flower between his lips +and a good-looking girl beside him. Away in front of us were the top +windows and the roofs of St. Anne's Mansions. Farther, on the left, the +clock tower of Westminster glinted in the sun-rays. + +'Fine ducks!' said M. Zola. + +'A pretty corner,' added Desmoulin, waving his hand towards some branches +that drooped to the water's edge. And suddenly I remembered and told them +of another French exile, the epicurean St. Evremond, whose needs were +relieved by Charles II. appointing him governor of yonder Duck Island at +a salary of three hundred pounds a year. + +'Well, I have little money in my pocket,' quoth Zola, 'but I don't think +I shall come to that. I hope that my pen alone will always yield me the +little I require.' + +But Big Ben struck the hour. It was six o'clock. So we separated, Messrs. +Zola and Desmoulin to retire to the dungeon at the Grosvenor, and I to go +in search of my friend the solicitor at his private house at Wimbledon. + + + + III + + DANGER SIGNALS + +That evening, I called upon my friend--Mr. F. W. Wareham, of Wimbledon, +and Ethelburge House, Bishopsgate Street--and laid before him the legal +points. I afterwards arranged to see him on the following morning in +town, when I hoped to fix a meeting between him and M. Zola. My first +call on Thursday, July 21, was made to the Grosvenor Hotel, where I found +both the master and M. Desmoulin in a state of anxiety. M. Zola, for his +part, felt altogether out of his element. After the excitement of his +trial and his journey to England, and the novelty of finding himself +stranded in a strange city, a kind of reaction had set in and he was +extremely depressed. + +M. Desmoulin on his side, having procured several morning newspapers, had +explored their columns to ascertain whether the ladies by whom the master +had been recognised in the street on the previous day, had by any chance +noised the circumstance abroad. However, the Press was still on the +Norway and Holland scents, and as yet not a paper so much as suggested M. +Zola's presence in England. + +'There has hardly been time,' said Desmoulin to me, 'but there will +probably be something fresh this afternoon. Those actresses are certain +to tell people, and we shall have to make ourselves scarce.' + +I tried to cheer and tranquillise both him and M. Zola, and then arranged +that Wareham should come to the hotel at 2 P.M. Meantime, said I, +whatever M. Desmoulin might do, it would be as well for M. Zola to remain +indoors. Several commissions were entrusted to me, and I went off, +promising to return about noon. + +I betook myself first to Messrs. Chatto and Windus's in St. Martin's +Lane, where I arrived a few minutes before ten o'clock. Neither Mr. +Chatto nor his partner, Mr. Percy Spalding, had as yet arrived, and I +therefore had to wait a few minutes. When Mr. Spalding made his +appearance he greeted me with a smile, and while leading the way to his +private room exclaimed, 'So our friend Zola is in London!' + +To describe my amazement is beyond my powers. I could only gasp, 'How do +you know that?' + +'Why, my wife saw him yesterday in Buckingham Palace Road.' + +I was confounded. For my part I had scarcely glanced at the ladies whom +Desmoulin had conjectured to be French actresses--simply because they +were young, prepossessing, and spoke French!--and certainly I should not +readily have recognised Mrs. Spalding, whom I had only met once some +years previously. It now seemed to me rather fortunate that she should be +the person who had recognised M. Zola, since she would naturally be +discreet as soon as the situation should be made clear to her. + +After I had explained the position, I ascertained that the only person +besides herself who knew anything so far were her husband and the lady +friend who had accompanied her on the previous day. + +'I will telegraph to my wife at once,' said Mr. Spalding, 'and you may be +sure that the matter will go no further. We certainly had a hearty laugh +at breakfast this morning when we read in the "Telegraph" of Zola +bicycling over the Swiss frontier; but, of course, as from what you tell +me, the matter is serious, neither my wife nor myself will speak of it.' + +'And her friend?' I exclaimed, 'she knows nothing of the necessity for +secrecy, and may perhaps gossip about it.' + +'She is going to Hastings to-day.' + +'Hastings!' said I, 'why M. Desmoulin, Zola's companion, does nothing but +talk of going to Hastings! I am glad I know this. Hastings is barred for +good, so far as Zola is concerned.' + +'Well, I will arrange for my wife to see her friend this morning before +she starts,' Mr. Spalding rejoined, 'and in this way we may be sure that +her friend will say nothing.' + +This excellent suggestion was acted upon immediately. Mr. Spalding +telegraphed full instructions to his wife, and later in the day I learnt +that everything had been satisfactorily arranged. But for this timely +action, following upon my lucky call at Messrs. Chatto and Windus's +establishment, it is virtually certain that the meeting in the Buckingham +Palace Road would have been talked about and the game of 'Where is Zola?' +brought to an abrupt conclusion. As it happened, both ladies, being duly +warned, preserved absolute secrecy. + +After going to Bishopsgate Street to see Wareham, and executing several +minor commissions, I returned to the Grosvenor, where Zola and Desmoulin +were much amused when I told them of the outcome of the previous day's +fright. + +'It was a remarkable coincidence certainly,' said M. Zola. 'At a low +calculation I daresay a thousand women passed me in the streets +yesterday; just one of them recognised me, and she, you say, was Mrs. +Spalding. Shortsighted as I am, not having seen her, too, since I was in +England, a few years ago, I had no notion she was the person who turned +as she passed along, and said, "There's Monsieur Zola." + +'But the curious part of it is that you should have had to go to +Chatto's, and should have learnt the lady's name so promptly from her +husband! Mathematically there were untold chances that this lady who +recognised me might be some stranger's wife, and that we might never more +hear anything of her! Yet you discover her identity at once. This is the +kind of thing which occasionally occurs in novels, but which critics say +never happens in real life. Well, now we know the contrary.' + +And he added gaily, 'You see it is another instance of my good luck, +which still attends me in spite of all the striving of those who bear me +grudges.' + +So far as the ladies were concerned things were, indeed, very +satisfactory. But the same could hardly be said of the position at the +Grosvenor. Neither M. Zola nor M. Desmoulin could leave the hotel or +return to it without being scrutinised. They had also noticed many a +glance in their direction at meal-time in the dining-room; and they had +come to the conclusion that departure was imperative. I did not gainsay +them, for I shared their views, and, in fact, I had already discussed the +matter with Wareham. I explained, however, that one must have a few hours +to devise suitable plans. + +Seaside places were dangerous at that time of the year, and the best +course would probably be to take a furnished house in the country. +Meantime, said I, Wareham had kindly offered to accommodate M. Zola at +his residence at Wimbledon, while M. Desmoulin might sleep close by at +the house of Mr. Everson (Wareham's managing clerk), who also disposed of +a spare bedroom. Further discussion of these matters was postponed, +however, until Wareham's arrive at the Grosvenor in the afternoon. + +As Zola and Desmoulin both distrusted the inquisitive glances of the +visitors and the attendants at the hotel, we lunched, I remember, at a +restaurant in or near Victoria Street--a deep, narrow place, crowded with +little tables. And here again M. Zola, in his light garments, with the +rosette of the Legion of Honour showing brightly in his buttonhole, +became the observed of all observers. + +He was, indeed, so conspicuous, so characteristic a figure that, looking +backward and remembering how repeatedly the illustrated papers had +portrayed him and how many photographs of him were to be seen in shop +windows, I often wonder how it happened that he was not recognised a +hundred times during those few days spent in London. It may be that many +did recognise him, but held their tongues. As yet, certainly, there was +not a word in the newspapers to set his adversaries upon his track. + +It was in a corner of the smoking-room at the Grosvenor, a hot gloomy +apartment overlooking Victoria Station, that I introduced Wareham to the +novelist. The former had already formed some opinion, but a few points +remained for consideration. The chief of these, as Wareham explained, was +how far the French Republic might claim jurisdiction over Frenchmen. + +In matters of process some countries asserted a measure of authority over +their subjects wherever they might be; and the question was, what might +be the law of France in that respect? Of course M. Zola could not be +extradited. The offence for which he had been sentenced did not come +within the purview of the Extradition Act. Again (in reply to a query +from M. Zola), there was no diplomatic channel through which a French +criminal libel judgment could be signified in England. But suppose that +French detectives should discover M. Zola's whereabouts, and suppose a +French process-server should quietly come to England with a couple of +witnesses, and by some craft or good luck should succeed in placing a +copy of the Versailles judgment in M. Zola's hands? + +Unless a breach of the Queen's peace were committed, it might be +difficult for the English authorities to interfere. There appeared to be +no case or precedent in England applying to such a matter. In Germany a +foreign process-server would be liable to penal servitude. But, of +course, that was not to the point. Again, although the service by a +foreigner might not hold good in English law, that had nothing to do with +it. The process-server and his witnesses would immediately return to +France; they would there prove to the satisfaction of their employers +that they had served the judgment on M. Zola personally, and they would +be able to snap their fingers at English lawyers should the latter +complain that the thrusting of a document into a man's hand under such +circumstances was a technical assault. They would have gained their +point. Judgment would have been served, and in accordance with French law +M. Zola would be called upon to enter an appearance against it at +Versailles. + +'Things must largely depend,' concluded Wareham, 'on whether French law +allows process to be served on a subject out of the jurisdiction. And +that is a point rather for French legal advisers than for me. Still I +shall look into the matter further; and if at the same time Maitre Labori +can be communicated with and can supply his opinion on the question, so +much the better. I now raise the point because it seems the crux of the +whole matter, and if it goes against us it is certain that M. Zola ought +to remain in close retirement. For the present it is as well that he +should run as little risk as possible.' + +M. Zola acquiesced in the suggestion of writing to his French counsel on +the point which had been raised; and the conversation then went on in the +same low tone that had been preserved from the outset. + +On entering the smoking-room we had found it deserted, but whilst Wareham +was speaking a couple of gentlemen had come in. One, I remember, was an +elderly, florid man, with mutton-chop whiskers and a buff waistcoat, who +took his stand beside the fireplace at the further end of the room and +puffed away at a big cigar. He looked inoffensive enough, and paid no +attention to us. But the other, a middle-aged individual, tall and slim, +with military moustaches, eyed us very keenly, changed his position two +or three times, and finally installed himself in a chair, whence, while +trifling with a cigarette, he commanded a good view of M. Zola's face. +Desmoulin, I think, was the first to notice this, and to call the +novelist's attention to it. Zola then shifted his position, and the +military looking gentleman soon did the same. At last, doubtless having +satisfied his curiosity, he left the room, not, however, without a sharp, +comprehensive survey of our party as he passed us on his way out. + +I do not now exactly remember how it happened that Wareham was not +received in the 'dungeon,' instead of the smoking-room. The choice of the +latter apartment was unfortunate. I have no doubt that, if some of the +newspapers were, a day or two afterwards, able to state that M. Zola was +staying at the Grosvenor Hotel, it was through certain remarks made by +the inquisitive military looking gentleman to whom I have referred. + +On the other hand his curiosity exercised decisive influence over M. +Zola's subsequent movements. He had hitherto been rather chary of +accepting Wareham's hospitality, for fear lest he should inconvenience +him. But the offer now being renewed was promptly accepted, and it was +agreed that I should take both Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin to Wimbledon +that evening. + +As it was to be expected that several letters from Paris would arrive at +the hotel, addressed to M. Pascal, I arranged to call or send for them. +The same course was adopted with regard to a few articles which M. Zola +had given to be washed and which had not yet been returned to him. Some +of these things were significantly marked with the letter 'Z,' and for +this reason it was desirable that they should be recovered. Here I may +mention that during the next few days my wife repeatedly called at the +Grosvenor for M. Zola's correspondence, a circumstance which doubtless +gave rise to the rumour that Mme. Zola had joined her husband in London. + +The exodus from the hotel was not particularly imposing. M. Desmoulin had +originally intended to stay but one day in London, and thus merely had a +dressing-case with him. As for M. Zola, his few belongings (inclusive of +a small bottle of ink, which he would not part with) were stuffed into +his pockets, or went towards the making of a peculiarly shaped newspaper +parcel, tied round with odd bits of string. Dressing-case and parcel were +duly brought down into the grand vestibule, where the hotel servants +smiled on them benignly. There was, indeed, some little humour in the +situation. + +The novelist, with his gold pince-nez and gold watch-chair, his red +rosette, and a large and remarkably fine diamond sparking on one of his +little fingers, looked so eminently respectable that it was difficult to +associate him with the wretched misshapen newspaper parcel--his only +luggage!--which he eyed so jealously. However, as the attendants were all +liberally fee'd, they remained strictly polite even if they felt amused. +I ordered a hansom to be called, and we just contrived to squeeze +ourselves and the precious newspaper parcel inside it. The dressing-case +was hoisted aloft. Then the hotel porter asked me, 'Where to, sir?' + +'Charing Cross Station,' I replied, and the next moment we were bowling +along Buckingham Palace Road. + +Perhaps a minute elapsed before I tapped the cab-roof with my walking +stick. On cabby looking down at me, I said, 'Did I tell you Charing Cross +just now, driver? Ah! well, I made a mistake. I meant Waterloo.' + +'Right, sir,' rejoined cabby; and on we went. + +It was a paltry device, perhaps, this trick of giving one direction in +the hearing of the hotel servants, and then another when the hotel was +out of sight. But, as the reader must know, this kind of thing is always +done in novels--particularly in detective stories. + +And recollections had come to me of some of Gaboriau's tales which long +ago I had helped to place before the English public. It might be that the +renowned Monsieur Lecoq or his successor, or perchance some English +_confrere_ like Mr. Sherlock Holmes, would presently be after us, and so +it was just as well to play the game according to the orthodox rules of +romance. After all, was it not in something akin to a romance that I was +living? + + + + IV + + A CHANGE OF QUARTERS + +It should be mentioned that the departure of Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin +from the Grosvenor Hotel took place almost immediately after Wareham had +returned to his office. We were not to meet our friend the solicitor +again until the evening at Wimbledon, but the hotel being apparently a +dangerous spot, it was thought best to quit it forthwith. + +When we reached Waterloo the dressing-case and the newspaper parcel were +deposited at one of the cloak-rooms; and after making the round of the +station, we descended into the Waterloo Road. At first we sauntered +towards the New Cut, and of course M. Zola could not help noticing the +contrast between the dingy surroundings amidst which he now found himself +and the stylish shops and roads he had seen in the Buckingham Palace +Road. The vista was not cheering, so I proposed that we should retrace +our steps and go as far as Waterloo Bridge. + +There seemed to be little risk in doing so, for, as usual hereabouts in +the middle of the afternoon, there were few people to be seen. The great +successive rush of homeward-bound employers, clerks, and workpeople had +not yet set in. And, moreover, there was plenty of time; for Wareham, +having important business in town that day, could not possibly be at +Wimbledon till half-past six at the earliest. + +We reached the bridge--'that monument,' as a famous Frenchman once put +in, 'worthy of Sesostris and the Caesars'--and went about half-way +across. It was splendid weather, and the Thames was aglow with the +countless reflections of the sunbeams that fell from the hot, whitening +sky. London was before us, 'with her palaces down to the water'; and M. +Zola stopped short, gazing intently at the scene. + +'Up-stream the view was spoilt,' said he, 'by the hideous Hungerford +Bridge, unworthy alike of the city and the river'--an erection such as no +Paris municipality would have tolerated for four and twenty hours. It was +the more obtrusive and aggravating, since beyond it one discerned but +little of the towers of Westminster. 'Admitting,' added the novelist, +'that a bridge is needed at that point for railway traffic, surely there +is no reason why it should be so surprisingly ugly. However, from all I +see, it seems more and more evident that you English people are very much +in the habit of sacrificing beauty to utility, forgetting that with a +little artistic sense it is easy to combine the two.' + +Then, however, he turned slightly, and looked down-stream where the +Victoria Embankment spreads past the Temple to Blackfriars. The +colonnades of Somerset House showed boldly and with a certain majesty in +the foreground, whilst in the distance, high over every roof, arose the +leaden dome of St. Paul's. This vista was rather to M. Zola's liking. +Close beside us, on the bridge, was one of the semi-circular embrasures +garnished with stone seats. A pitiful-looking vagrant was lolling there; +but this made no difference to M. Zola. He installed himself on the seat +with Desmoulin on one hand and myself on the other, and there we remained +for some little time looking about us and chatting. + +'This was the only thing wanted,' said Desmoulin, who generally had some +humorous remark in readiness for every situation. 'Yesterday at the +Grosvenor we were in the _fosse de Vincennes_, and now, as they say in +the melodrama of "The Knights of the Fog" ("Les Chevaliers du +Brouillard"*), we are "homeless wanderers stranded on the bridges of +London."' + + * The French dramatic adaptation of Ainsworth's 'Jack Sheppard.' + +The allusion to the fog roused M. Zola from his contemplation. + +'But where is the Savoy Hotel, where I stayed in '93?' he inquired. 'It +must be very near here.' + +I pointed it out to him, and he was astonished. 'Why, no--that cannot be! +It is so large a place, and now it looks so small. What is that huge +building beside it?' + +'The Hotel Cecil,' I replied. + +Then again he shook his head in disapproval. From an artistic standpoint +he strongly objected to the huge caravansary on which builder Hobbs and +pious Jabez Balfour spent so much of other people's money. Soaring +massively and pretentiously into the sky it dwarfed everything around; +and thus, in his opinion, utterly spoilt that part of the Embankment. + +'To think, too,' said he, 'that you had such a site, here, along the +river, and allowed it to be used for hotels and clubs, and so forth. +There was room for a Louvre here, and you want one badly; for your +National Gallery, which I well remember visiting in '93, is a most +wretched affair architecturally.' + +'But I want to see rather more of the south side of the river,' he added, +after a pause. 'I should like to ascertain if my lion is still there. I +recollect that there was some fog about on the morning after my arrival +at the Savoy in '93; and when I went to the window of my room I noticed +the mist parting--one mass of vapour ascending skyward, while the other +still hovered over the river. And, in the rent between, I espied a lion, +poised in mid air. It amused me vastly; and I called my wife, saying to +her, "Come and see. Here's the British lion waiting to bid us good-day."' + +We went to the end of the bridge and thence espied the lion which +surmounts the brewery of that name. M. Zola recognised it immediately. +Desmoulin would then have led us Strandward; but the Strand, said I, was +about the most dangerous thoroughfare in all London for those who wished +to escape recognition; so we went back over the bridge and again down the +Waterloo road. + +'I should like very much to send a line to Paris to-day to stop letters +from going to the Grosvenor,' said M. Zola. 'Is there any place +hereabouts where I could write a note?' + +This question perplexed me, for the numerous facilities for +letter-writing which are supplied by the cafes of Paris are conspicuously +absent in London; and this I explained to M. Zola. A postage stamp may +often be procured at a public-house, but only now and again can one there +obtain ink and paper. However, I thought we might as well try the saloon +bar of the York Hotel, which abuts on the famous 'Poverty Corner,' so +much frequented by ladies and gentlemen of the 'halls,' when, sorely +against their inclinations, they are 'resting.' + +It was Thursday afternoon; still there were several disconsolate-looking +individuals lounging about the corner; and in the saloon bar we found +some fourteen or fifteen loudly dressed men and women typical of the +spot. I forget what I ordered for Desmoulin and myself, but M. Zola, I +know imbibed, mainly for the good of the house, 'a small lemon plain.' +Then we ascertained that the young lady at the bar had neither stamps, +nor paper, nor envelopes, and so we were again in a quandary. Fortunately +I recollected a little stationer's shop in the York Road, and leaving the +others in the saloon bar, I went in search of the requisite materials. + +When I returned I found the master an object of general attention. His +extremely prosperous appearance, his white billycock, his jewellery, and +so forth, coupled with the circumstance that he conversed in French with +Desmoulin, had led some of those present to imagine that he was a +Continental music-hall director on the look out for English 'artists.' + +Again and again I noticed, as it were, a 'hungry' glance in his +direction; and when, after procuring an inkstand from over the bar, I had +ensconced him in a corner, where he was able after a fashion to pen his +correspondence, a vivacious and, it seemed to me, somewhat bibulous +gentleman in a check suit sidled up to where I stood and introduced +himself in that easy way which repeated 'drops' of 'Mountain Dew' are apt +to engender. + +'Ah!' said he, after a few pointless remarks, 'your friend is over here +on business, eh? Right thing, splendid thing. It's only by looking round +that one can get real tip-top novelties. Oh! I know Paree and the +bouleywards well enough. I was on at the Follee Bergey only a few years +ago myself. A good place that--pays well, eh? I shouldn't at all mind +taking a trip across the water again. There's nothing like a change, you +know. Sets a man up, eh?' + +Then mysteriously--lifting his forefinger and lowering his voice, 'Now +your friend wants "talent," eh? Real, genuine "talent"! I could put him +in the way----' + +But I interposed: 'You've applied to the wrong shop,' I said by way of a +joke; 'my friend has all the talent he requires. He's quite full up.' + +A sorrowful look came over the angular features of the gentleman in the +check suit. 'It's like my luck,' said he; 'there was a fellow over from +Amsterdam the other day, but he'd only take girls. I think the +Continental line's pretty nigh played out.' + +He heaved a sigh and glanced in the direction of his empty glass. Then, +seeing that the novelist and Desmoulin were rising to join me, he +whispered hurriedly, _'I say, guv'nor, you haven't got a tanner you could +spare, have you?'_ + +I had foreseen the request; nevertheless I pressed a few coppers into his +hand and then hurried out after my wards. + +Though it was still early we decided to start at once for Wimbledon. The +master, I thought, might like to see a little of the place pending +Wareham's arrival. + +The journey through Lambeth, Vauxhall, and Queen's Road is not calculated +to give the intelligent foreigner a particularly favourable impression of +London. Still M. Zola did not at first find the surroundings very much +worse than those one observes on leaving Paris by the Northern or Eastern +lines. But as the train went on and on and much the same scene appeared +on either hand he began to wonder when it would all end. + +On approaching Clapham Junction a sea of roofs is to be seen on the right +stretching away through Battersea to the Thames; while on the left a huge +wave of houses ascends the acclivity known, I believe, as Lavender Hill. +And at the sight of all the mean, dusty streets, lined with little houses +of uniform pattern, each close pressed to the other--at the frequently +recurring glimpses of squalor and shabby gentility--M. Zola exploded. + +'It is awful!' he said. + +We were alone in our compartment, and he looked first from one window and +then from the other. Next came a torrent of questions: Why were the +houses so small? Why were they all so ugly and so much alike? What +classes of people lived in them? Why were the roads so dusty? Why was +there such a litter of fragments of paper lying about everywhere? Where +those streets never watered? Was there no scavengers' service? And then a +remark: 'You see that house, it looks fairly clean and neat in front. But +there! Look at the back-yard--all rubbish and poverty! One notices that +again and again!' + +We passed Clapham Junction, pursuing our journey through the cutting +which intersects Wandsworth Common. 'Well,' I said, 'you may take it +that, except as regards the postal and police services, you are now out +of London proper.' + +Presently, indeed, we emerged from the cutting, and fields were seen on +either hand. One could breathe at last. But as we approached Earlsfield +Station all M. Zola's attention was given to a long row of low-lying +houses whose yards and gardens extend to the railway line. Now and again +a trim patch of ground was seen; here, too, there was a little +glass-house, there an attempt at an arbour. But litter and rubbish were +only too often apparent. + +'This, I suppose,' said the novelist, 'is what you call a London slum +invading the country? You tell me that only a part of the bourgeoisie +cares for flats, and that among the lower middle class and the working +class each family prefers to rent its own little house. Is this for the +sake of privacy? If so, I see no privacy here. Leaving out the question +of being overlooked from passing trains, observe the open four-foot +fences which separate one garden or yard from the other. There is no +privacy at all! To me the manner in which your poorer classes are housed +in the suburbs, packed closely together in flimsy buildings, where every +sound can be heard, suggests a form of socialism--communism, or perhaps +rather the phalansterian system.' + +But Earlsfield was already passed, and we were reaching Wimbledon. Here +M. Zola's impressions changed. True, he did not have occasion to +perambulate what he would doubtless have called the 'phalansterian' +streets of new South Wimbledon. I spared him the sight of the chess-board +of bricks and mortar into which the speculative builder has turned acre +after acre north of Merton High Street. But the Hill Road, the Broadway, +the Worple Road, and the various turnings that climb towards the Ridgeway +pleased him. And he commented very favourably on the shops in the +Broadway and the Hill Road, which in the waning sunshine still looked gay +and bright. At every moment he stopped to examine something. Such +displays of fruit, and fish, poultry, meat, and provisions of all kinds; +the drapers' windows all aglow with summer fabrics, and those of the +jewellers coruscating with gold and gems. Then the public-houses +--dignified by the name of hotels, though I explained that they had +no hotel accommodation--bespoke all the wealth of a powerful trade. + +There was an imposing bank, too, and a stylish carriage builder's, with +furniture shops, stationers, pastrycooks, hairdressers, ironmongers, and +so forth, whose displays testified to the prosperity of the town. Again +and again did M. Zola express the opinion that these Wimbledon shops were +by far superior to such as one would find in a French town of +corresponding size and at a similar distance from the capital. + +We sauntered up and down the Hill Road, looking in at the Free Library on +our way. Then, on passing the Alexandra Road, I explained to Desmoulin +that he would sleep there, at No. 20, where Wareham has a local office +and where his managing clerk, Everson by name, resides. + +The arrangement with Wareham had been concluded so precipitately that, to +spare him unnecessary trouble at home, we had arranged to dine that +evening at a local restaurant--in fact, the only restaurant possessed by +Wimbledon. Wareham was to join us there. The proprietor, Mr. Genoni, is +of foreign origin, but Wareham knowing him personally had assured me that +even should he suspect our friend's identity his discretion might readily +be relied upon. And so the sequel proved. During our repast, however, I +felt a little doubtful about one of the waiters who know French, and I +therefore cautioned M. Zola and M. Desmoulin to be as reticent as +possible. + +After dinner we adjourned to Wareham's house in Prince's Road, where Mrs. +Wareham gave the travellers the most cordial of welcomes. The +conversation was chiefly confined to the question of finding some +suitable place where M. Zola might settle down for his term of exile. He, +himself, was so taken with what he had seen of Wimbledon that he +suggested renting a furnished house there. This seemed a trifle +dangerous, both to Wareham and myself; but the novelist was not to be +gainsaid; and as Wareham, in anticipation of his services being required, +had made special arrangements to give M. Zola most of his time on the +morrow, we arranged to see some house agents, engage a landau, and drive +round to visit such places as might seem suitable. + +It was nearly half-past eleven when I left Wareham's to escort Desmoulin +to the Alexandra Road. I there left him in charge of his host, Mr. +Everson, and then turning (by way of a short cut) into the Lover's Walk, +which the South Western Railway Company so considerately provides for +amorous Wimbledonians, I hurried homeward, wondering what the morrow +would bring forth. + + + + V + + WIMBLEDON--OATLANDS + +It will be obvious to all readers of this narrative that from the moment +M. Zola left Paris, and throughout his sojourn in London and its +immediate neighbourhood, there was little if any skill shown in the +matter of keeping his movements secret. In point of fact, blunder upon +blunder was committed. A first mistake was made in going to an hotel like +the Grosvenor; a second in openly promenading some of the most frequented +of the London streets; and a third in declining to make the slightest +alteration with regard to personal appearance. Again, although press of +circumstances rendered departure for Wimbledon a necessity, as it was +imperative to get M. Zola out of London at once, this change of quarters +was in the end scarcely conducive to secrecy. A good many Wimbledonians +were aware of my connection with M. Zola, and even if he were not +personally recognised by them, the circumstance of a French gentleman of +striking appearance being seen in my company was fated to arouse +suspicion. My home is but a mile or so from the centre of Wimbledon, and +M. Zola's proposal to make that locality his place of sojourn seemed to +me such a dangerous course that when I returned to Wareham's house on the +morning of Friday, July 22, I was determined to oppose it, in the +master's own interests, as vigorously as might be possible. + +However, I found Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin ready to start for an +inspection of such furnished houses as might seem suitable for their +accommodation; and nothing urged either by Wareham or by myself could +turn them from their purpose. So the four of us took our seats in the +landau which had been ordered, and were soon driving in the direction of +Wimbledon Park, where stood the first of the eligible residences entered +in the books of a local house agent. The terms for these houses varied, +if I recollect rightly, from four to seven guineas a week. Some we did +not trouble to enter; others, however, were carefully inspected. + +Nothing in the way of a terrace house would suit; for M. Zola was not yet +a phalansterian. And in like way he objected to the semi-detached villas. +He wished to secure a somewhat retired place, girt with foliage and thus +screened from the observation of neighbours and passers-by. The low +garden railings and fences usually met with were by no means to his +taste. The flimsy party walls of the semi-detached villas, through which +every sound so swiftly passes, were equally objectionable to him. And I +must say that I viewed with some little satisfaction his dislike for +several of the houses which we visited; for this made it easier to +dissuade him from his plan of fixing his abode in Wimbledon, where, +unless he should rigidly confine himself within doors, it was certain +that his presence would be known before a week was over. + +There were, however, some houses which the master found to his liking; +and here he lingered awhile, inspecting the rooms, taking stock of the +furniture, examining the engravings and water-colours on the walls, and +viewing the trim gardens with visible satisfaction. One place, a large +house in one of the precipitous roads leading from the Ridgeway to the +Worple Road, was, perhaps, rather too open for his requirements, but its +appointments were perfect, and at his bidding I plied the lady of the +house with innumerable questions about plate, linen, and garden produce, +the servants she offered to leave behind her, and so forth. She was a +tall and stately dame, with silver hair and a soft musical voice--a +perfect type of the old marquise, such as one sees portrayed at times on +the boards of the Comedie Francaise, and after I had acted as interpreter +for a quarter of an hour or so, she suddenly turned upon the master and, +to the surprise of all of us, addressed him in perfect French. It was +this which broke the spell. Though M. Zola was taken aback, he responded +politely enough, and the conversation went on in French for some minutes, +but I could already tell that he had renounced his intention of renting +the house. When we drove away, after promising the lady a decisive answer +within a day or two, he said to me: + +'That would never do. The lady's French was too good. She looked at me +rather suspiciously too. She would soon discover my identity. She has +probably heard of me already.' + +'Who hasn't?' I responded with a laugh. And once again I brought forward +the objections that occurred to me with respect to the plan of remaining +at Wimbledon. It was a centre of Roman Catholic activity. There was a +Jesuit college there, numbering both French professors and French pupils. +Moreover, several French families resided in Wimbledon, and with some of +them I was myself acquainted. Then also the population included a good +many literary men, journalists, and others who took an interest in the +Dreyfus case. And, finally, the town was far too near to London to be in +anywise a safe hiding-place. + +Nevertheless, M. Zola only abandoned his intentions with regret. In that +bright sunshiny weather there was an attractive _je ne sais quoi_ about +Wimbledon which charmed him. Not that it was in his estimation an ideal +place. The descents from the hill and the Ridgeway (though he admired the +beautiful views they afforded, stretching as far as Norwood) appalled him +from certain practical standpoints, and he was never weary of expatiating +on the pluck of the girls who cycled so boldly and gracefully from the +hill crest to the lower parts of the town. Here it may be mentioned that +M. Zola has become reconciled to the skirt as a cycling garment. Once +upon a time he was an uncompromising partisan of 'rationals' and +'bloomers,' a warm adherent of the views which Lady Harberton and her +friends uphold. But sojourn in England has changed all that--at least so +far as the English type of girl is concerned. Those who have read his +novel, 'Paris,' may remember that he therein ascribed the following +remarks to his heroine--Marie: 'Ah! there is nothing like rationals! To +think that some women are so foolish and obstinate as to wear skirts when +they cycle! . . . To think that women have a unique opportunity of +putting themselves at their ease and releasing their limbs from prison, +and yet won't do so! If they fancy they look the prettier in short +skirts, like schoolgirls, they are vastly mistaken. . . . Skirts are rank +heresy.' + +Well, so far as Englishwomen are concerned, M. Zola himself has become a +heretic. 'Rationals,' he has more than once said to me of recent times, +'are not suited to the lithe and somewhat spare figure of the average +English girl. Moreover, I doubt if there is a costumier in England who +knows how to cut "rationals" properly. Such women as I have seen in +rationals in England looked to me horrible. They had not the proper +figure for the garment, and the garment itself was badly made. For +rationals to suit a woman, her figure should be of the happy medium, +neither too slim nor over-developed. Now the great bulk of your girls are +extremely slim, and appear in skirts to advantage. In cycling, moreover, +they carry themselves much better than the majority of Frenchwomen do. +They sit their machines gracefully, and the skirt, instead of being a +mere bundle of stuff, falls evenly and fittingly like a necessary +adjunct--the drapery which is needed to complete and set off the +ensemble.' + +At the same time, the master does not cry 'haro' on the 'bloomer.' It is +admirably suited, he maintains, to the average Frenchwoman, who is more +inclined to a reasonable plumpness than her English sister. 'The skirt to +England,' says he, 'the bloomer to France.' The whole question is one of +physique and latitude. The Esquimaux lady would look ungainly and feel +uncomfortable if she exchanged her moose furs for the wisp of calico +which is patronised by the lady of Senegal; and in the like way the +Englishwoman is manifestly ungainly and uncomfortable when she borrows +the breeches of the Parisienne. + +This digression may seem to carry one away from Wimbledon, but I should +mention that many of the points enunciated were touched upon by M. Zola +for the first time, while we postponed further house-hunting to drive +over Wimbledon Common. The historic mill and Caesar's Camp, and the +picturesque meres were all viewed before the horses' heads were turned to +the town once more. + +By this time the master had come to the conclusion that however pleasant +Wimbledon might be, it was no fit place for him, and that his best course +would be to pitch his tent 'far from gay cities and the ways of men.' +Within a few hours I had some proof of the wisdom of his decision, and a +week had not elapsed before I found that M. Zola's sojourn at Wimbledon +had become known to a variety of people. Mr. Genoni, the restaurateur, +had been one of the first to identify him; but, as he explained to me, he +was no spy or betrayer, and whatever he might think of the Dreyfus +business--he was a reader of that anti-Revisionist print the 'Petit +Journal'--M. Zola's secret was, he assured me, quite safe in his hands. +But, independently of Mr. Genoni, the secret soon became _le secret de +Polichinelle_. A French resident in Wimbledon recognised M. Zola as he +stood one day by the railway bridge admiring some fair cyclists. Then a +gentleman connected with the local Petty Sessions court espied him in my +company, and shrewdly guessed his identity. Subsequently a local +hairdresser, an Englishman, but one well acquainted with Paris and +Parisian matters, 'spotted' him in the Hill Road. Others followed suit, +and at last one afternoon a member of the 'Globe' staff called upon me +and supplied me with such circumstantial particulars that I could not +possibly deny the accuracy of his information. But M. Zola had then left +Wimbledon, and thus I was able to fence with my visitor and inform him +that, even if the novelist had ever been in the town, he was not there at +that time. + +It had been arranged that some of the leading London house agents should +be written to, with the view of securing some secluded country house, +preferably in Surrey, and on the South Western line; but the question +was, where, in the meantime, could M. Zola be conveniently installed? +Having left England in the year 1865, and apart from a few brief sojourns +in London, having remained abroad till 1886, my knowledge of my native +land is very slight indeed. Years spent in foreign countries have made me +a stay-at-home--one who nowadays buries himself in his little London +suburb, going to town as seldom as possible, and without need of country +or seaside trip, since at Merton, where I live, there are green fields +all around one and every vivifying breeze that can be wished for. Thus I +was the worst person in the world to take charge of M. Zola and pilot him +safely to a haven of refuge. + +Fortunately, Mr. Wareham knows his way about, as the saying goes, and his +cycling experience proved very useful. He suggested that until a house +could be secured, M. Zola should be installed at a country hotel; and he +mentioned two or three places which seemed to him of the right character. +One of these was Oatlands Park; and Wareham, who, although a solicitor, +claims to have some little poetry in his nature, waxed so enthusiastic +over the charms of Oatlands and neighbouring localities, that both M. +Zola and M. Desmoulin, fervent admirers of scenery as they are, became +curious to visit this leafy district of Surrey, where, as will be +remembered, King Louis Philippe spent his last years of life and exile. + +One afternoon, then, I started with Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin for +Walton, from which station the Oatlands Park Hotel is most conveniently +reached. A Gladstone bag had now replaced the master's newspaper parcel, +and as M. Desmoulin's dressing-case was as large as a valise, there was +at least some semblance of luggage. I fully realised that it was hardly +the correct thing to present oneself at Oatlands Park and ask for rooms +there _ex abrupto_; as with hostelries of that class it is usual for one +to write and secure accommodation beforehand. However, there was no time +for this; and we decided to run the risk of finding the hotel 'full up,' +particularly as Wareham had informed us that in such a case we might +secure a temporary billet at one or another of the smaller hotels of +Walton or Weybridge. Thus we went our way at all hazards, and during the +journey I devised a little story for the benefit of the manager at +Oatlands Park. + +That gentleman, as I had surmised, was a trifle astonished at our +appearance. But I told him that my friends were a couple of French +artists, who had been spending a few weeks in London 'doing the lions' +there, and who had heard of the charming scenery around Oatlands, and +wished to view it, and possibly make a few sketches. And, at the same +time, a solicitor's recommendation being of some value, since it might +mean a good many future customers, I handed the manager one of Wareham's +cards. There was, I remember, some little difficulty at first in +obtaining rooms, for the hotel was nearly full; but everything ended +satisfactorily. + +I may mention, perhaps, that in describing Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin as +French artists, I had at least told half the truth. M. Fernand Desmoulin +is, of course, well known in the French art world; and, moreover, he had +already spoken to me of purchasing a water-colour outfit for the very +purpose of sketching, as I had stated. Then, too, M. Zola first +distinguished himself in literature as an art critic, the defender of +Manet, the champion of the school of the 'open air.' And if he made no +sketches whilst he remained at Oatlands he at least took several +photographs. Sapient critics will stop me here with the oft-repeated +dictum that photography is not art. But however that may be, so many +painters nowadays have recourse to the assistance of photography that M. +Zola's 'snap-shotting' largely helped to bear out the account which I had +given of him at the hotel. + +Oatlands Park is a large pile standing on the site of a magnificent +palace built by Henry VIII. Anne of Denmark, wife of James I., resided +there, and Henrietta Maria there gave birth to the Duke of Gloucester, +the brother of our second Charles and second James. The palace was almost +entirely destroyed during the Civil Wars, and subsequently the property +passed in turn to Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans; Herbert, the admiral, first +Earl of Torrington; and Henry, seventh Earl of Lincoln. A descendant of +the last-named sold the estate to Frederick, Duke of York, the son of +George III. and Commander-in-Chief of the British army. Soon afterwards +the house at Oatlands was destroyed by fire, and the prince erected a new +building, some portions of which are incorporated in the present +hostelry. A pathetic interest attaches to those remains of York House. +Within those walls were spent many of the honeymoon hours of a fair and +virtuous princess, one whose early death plunged England into the deepest +grief it had known for centuries; there she conceived the child who in +the ordinary course of nature might have become King of Great Britain. +But the babe, so anxiously awaited by the whole nation (there was no +Princess Victoria at that time) proved stillborn; and of the unhappy +'mother of the moment,' Byron wrote in immortal lines: + + + Of sackcloth was thy wedding garment made; + Thy bridal's fruit is ashes; in the dust + The fair-hair'd Daughter of the Isles is laid, + The love of millions! + + +I am bound to add that the tragic story of the Princess Charlotte was not +that which most appealed to M. Zola's feelings at Oatlands Park. Nor was +he particularly impressed by the far-famed grotto which the hotel +handbook states 'has no parallel in the world.' The grotto, an artificial +affair, the creation of which is due to a Duke of Newcastle, whom it cost +40,000 pounds, besides giving employment to three men for twenty years, +consists of numerous chambers and passages, whose walls are inlaid with +coloured spars, shells, coral, ammonites, and crystals. This work is +ingenious enough, but when one enters a bath-room and finds a stuffed +alligator there, keeping company with a statue of Venus and a terra-cotta +of the infant Hercules, one is apt to remember how perilously near the +ridiculous is to the sublime. + +Ridiculous also to some minds may seem the Duchess of York's dog and +monkey cemetery, in which half a hundred of that lady's canine and simian +pets lie buried with headstones to their tombs commemorating their +virtues. This cemetery, however, greatly commended itself to M. Zola, +who, as some may know, is a rare lover of animals. Among the various +distinctions accorded to him in happier times by his compatriots there is +none that he has ever prized more highly than the diploma of honour he +received from the French 'Society for the Protection of Animals,' and I +believe that one of the happiest moments he ever knew was when, as +Government delegate at a meeting of that society, he fastened a gold +medal on the bosom of a blushing little shepherdess, a certain Mlle. +Camelin, of Trionne, in Upper Burgundy, a girl of sixteen, who, at the +peril of her life, had engaged a ravenous wolf in single combat, killed +him, and thereby saved her flock. + +And M. Zola's books teem with his love of animals. During his long exile +one of the few requests addressed to him from France, to which he +inclined a favourable ear, was an appeal on behalf of a new journal +devoted to the interests of the animal world. To this he could not refuse +his patronage, and he gave it enthusiastically, well knowing how much +remains to be accomplished in inculcating among the masses such affection +and patience as are rightful with regard to those dumb creatures who +serve man so well. + +The Duchess of York's cemetery reminded him of his own. Below his house +at Medan a green islet rises from the Seine. This he purchased some years +ago, and there all his favourites have since been buried: an old horse, a +goat, and several dogs. During his exile a fresh interment took place in +this island cemetery, that of his last canine favourite, the poor +'Chevalier de Perlinpinpin,' who, after vainly fretting for his absent +master, died at last of sheer grief and loneliness. Those only can +understand Emile Zola who have seen him as I saw him then, bowed down +with sorrow, distraught, indifferent to all else, both the weightiest +personal interests and the very triumph of the cause he had championed; +and this because his pet dog had pined away for him, and was beyond all +possibility of succour. It was of course a passing weakness with him; +such weakness as may fall upon a man of kindly heart. In Zola's case it +came, however, almost like a last blow amidst the sorrow and loneliness +of the exile which he was enduring in silence for the sake of his +much-loved country. + + + + VI + + STILL AT OATLANDS + +For a time, at all events, Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin found themselves in +fairly pleasant quarters; they could stroll about the gardens at Oatlands +or along the umbrageous roads of Walton, or beside the pretty reaches of +the Thames, amidst all desirable quietude. After all his worries the +master needed complete mental rest, and he laughed at his friend's +repeated appeals for newspapers. + +At that period I procured a few French journals every time I went to town +and posted them to Oatlands, where they were eagerly conned by M. +Desmoulin, on whom the Dreyfus fever was as strong as ever. But M. Zola +during the first fortnight of his exile did not once cast eyes upon a +newspaper, and the only information he obtained respecting passing events +was such as Desmoulin or myself imparted to him. And in this he evinced +little interest. Half of it, he said, was absolutely untrue, and the +other half was of no importance. There is certainly much force and truth +in this curtly-worded opinion as applied to the contents of certain Paris +journals. + +However, communications were now being opened up between the master and +his Paris friends, and every few days Wareham or myself had occasion to +go to Oatlands. There were sundry false alarms, too, through strangers +calling at Wareham's office, and now and again my sudden appearance at +the hotel threw Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin into anxiety. In other +respects their life was quiet enough. The people staying at Oatlands +were, on the whole, a much less inquisitive class than those whom one had +found at the Grosvenor. There were various honeymoon-making couples, who +were far too busy feasting their eyes on one another to pay much +attention to two French artists. Then, also, the family people gave time +to the superintendence of their sons and daughters; whilst the old folks +only seemed to care for a leisurely stroll about the grounds, followed by +long spells of book or newspaper reading, under the shelter of tree or +sunshade. + +Moreover the exiles saw little of the other inmates of the hotel, +excepting at the table d'hote dinner. M. Zola then brought his faculties +of observation into play, and after a lapse of a few days he informed me +that he was astonished at the ease and frequency with which some English +girls raised their wine-glasses to their lips. It upset all his idea of +propriety to see young ladies of eighteen tossing off their Moselle and +their champagne as to the manner born. In France the daughter who is +properly trained contents herself with water just coloured by the +addition of a little Bordeaux or Burgundy. And the contrast between this +custom and incidents which M. Zola noticed at Oatlands--and to which he +once or twice called my attention--made a deep impression on him. + +The people staying at the hotel were certainly all of a good class. There +were several well-known names in the register; and knowing how much has +been written on the happy decrease of drinking habits 'in the upper +middle-class of England,' I was myself slightly surprised at what was +pointed out to me. When M. Zola discovered, too, that sundry +gentlemen--leaving wine to their wives and daughters--were addicted to +drinking whisky with their meals, he was yet more astonished, for he +claims that in France nowadays, greatly as the consumption of alcohol has +increased among the masses, it has declined almost to vanishing point +among people with any claim to culture. On this matter, however, I +reminded him that wine was often expensive in England, that beer +disagreed with many people, and that some who felt the need of a +stimulant were thus driven to whisky and water. + +When the master and Desmoulin wandered down to the Thames towing-path, +they found fresh food for observation and comment among the boating +fraternity. With some gay parties were damsels whose disregard for +decorum was strongly reminiscent of Asnieres and Joinville-le-Pont; and +it was slightly embarrassing to stroll near the river in the evening, +when at every few yards one found young couples exchanging kisses in the +shadows of the trees. After all it was surprise rather than embarrassment +which the exiles experienced, for they had scarcely imagined that English +training was conducive to such public endearments. + +At a later stage a bicycle was procured for the master, and he was then +able to extend his sphere of observation; but in the earlier days at +Oatlands his rambles were confined to the vicinity of Walton and +Weybridge. At the latter village he laid in a fresh stock of linen, and +was soon complaining of the exiguous proportions of English shirts. The +Frenchman, it should be remembered, is a man of many gestures, and +desires all possible freedom of action for his arms. His shirt is cut +accordingly, and a superabundance rather than a deficiency of material in +length as well as breadth is the result. But the English shirt-maker +proceeds upon different lines; he always seems afraid of wasting a few +inches of longcloth, and thus if the ordinary ready-made shirt on sale at +shops of the average class is dressy-looking enough, it is also often +supremely uncomfortable to those who like their ease. Such, at least, was +the master's experience; and in certain respects, said he, the English +shirt was not only uncomfortable, but indecorous as well. This astonished +him with a nation which claimed to show so much regard for the +proprieties. + +The desire to clothe himself according to his wont became so keen that M. +Desmoulin decided to make an expedition to Paris. All this time Mme. Zola +had remained alone at the house in the Rue de Bruxelles, outside which, +as at Medan (where the Zolas have their country residence), detectives +were permanently stationed. Mme. Zola was shadowed wherever she went, the +idea, of course, being that she would promptly follow her husband abroad. +She had, however, ample duties to discharge in Paris. At the same time +she much wished to send her husband a trunkful of clothes as well as the +materials for a new book he had planned, in order that he might have some +occupation in his sorrow and loneliness. + +Most people are by this time aware that M. Zola's gospel is work. In +diligent study and composition he finds some measure of solace for every +trouble. At times it is hard for him to take up the pen, but he forces +himself to do so, and an hour later he has largely banished sorrow and +anxiety, and at times has even dulled physical pain. He himself, heavy +hearted as he was when the first novelty of his strolls around Oatlands +had worn off, felt that he must have something to do, and was therefore +well pleased at the prospect of receiving the materials for his new book, +'Fecondite.' + +At that date he certainly did not imagine that the whole of this work +would be written in England, that his exile would drag on month after +month till winter would come and spring return, followed once more by +summer. In those days we used to say: 'It will all be over in a +fortnight, or three weeks, or a month at the latest;' and again and again +did our hopes alternately collapse and revive. Thus the few chapters of +'Fecondite,' which he thought he might be able to pen in England, +multiplied and multiplied till they at last became thirty--the entire +work. + +It was M. Desmoulin who brought the necessary materials--memoranda, +cuttings, and a score of scientific works--from Paris. And at the same +time he had a trunk with him full of clothes which had been smuggled in +small parcels out of M. Zola's house, carried to the residence of a +friend, and there properly packed. Desmoulin also brought a hand camera, +which likewise proved very acceptable to the master, and enabled him to +take many little photographs--almost a complete pictorial record of his +English experiences. + +During Desmoulin's absence the master remained virtually alone at +Oatlands, and as he still cared nothing for newspapers I sent him a few +books from my shelves, and, among others, Stendhal's 'La Chartreuse de +Parme.' He wrote me afterwards; 'I am very grateful to you for the books +you sent. Now that I am utterly alone they enabled me to spend a pleasant +day yesterday. I am reading "La Chartreuse." I am without news from +France. If you hear of anything really serious pray let me know about +it.' + +By this time proper arrangements had been made with regard to M. Zola's +correspondence. His exact whereabouts were kept absolutely secret even +from his most intimate friends. Everybody, his wife and Maitre Labori +also, addressed their letters to Wareham's office in Bishopsgate Street. +Here the correspondence was enclosed in a large envelope and redirected +to Oatlands. With regard to visitors Wareham and I had decided to give +the master's address to none. Wareham intended to take their cards, +ascertain their London address, and then refer the matter through me to +M. Zola. Later on, a regular supply of French newspapers was arranged, +and those journals were re-transmitted to the master by Wareham or +myself. + +On the other hand, I usually addressed M. Zola's letters for him to the +house of a trusty friend in Paris. This precaution was a necessary one, +as M. Zola's handwriting is so extremely characteristic and so well known +in France. And thus we were convinced that any letter arriving in Paris +addressed by him would immediately be sent to the 'Cabinet Noir,' where +all suspicious correspondence is opened by certain officials, who +immediately report the contents to the Government. + +It has been pretended that of recent years this secret service has been +abolished; but such is by no means the case. It flourishes to-day in the +same way as it flourished under the Second Empire, when Napoleon III. +made a point of acquainting himself with the private correspondence of +his own relatives, his ministers, and his generals. After the revolution +of September 1870, hundreds of copies of more or less compromising +letters, covert attacks on or criticisms of the Imperial Government, +_billets-doux_ also between Imperial princes and their mistresses, and so +forth, were found at the Palace of the Tuilleries; and some of them were +even published by a commission nominated by the Republican Government. + +Much of the same kind of thing goes on to-day, and M. Zola, when in Paris +during the earlier stages of the Dreyfus case, had made it a point to +trust no letter of the slightest importance to the Postal Service. On one +occasion, a short time after his arrival in England, we had reason to +fear that a letter addressed by me to Paris had gone astray, and all +correspondence on M. Zola's side was thereupon suspended for several +days. However, the missing letter turned up at last, and from that time +till the conclusion of the master's exile the arrangements devised +between him, Wareham, and myself worked without a hitch. + + + + VII + + EXCURSIONS AND ALARUMS + +Already at the time of M. Zola's arrival in London I had received a +summons to serve upon the jury at the July Sessions of the Central +Criminal court. I had been excused from service on a previous occasion, +but this time I had no valid excuse to offer, and it followed that I must +either serve or else pay such a fine as the Common Serjeant might direct. +There is always a certain element of doubt in these matters; and while I +might perhaps luckily escape service after a day or two, on the other +hand, I might be kept at the Old Bailey for more than a week. At any +other time I should have accepted my fate without a murmur; but I was +greatly worried as to what might befall M. Zola during my absence in +London, and I more than once thought of defaulting and 'paying up.' But +the master would not hear of it. He was now located at Oatlands, and felt +sure that he would have no trouble there. Moreover, said he, it would +always be possible for me to run down now and again of an evening, dine +with him, and attend to such little matters as might require my help. + +So, on the Monday morning when the sessions opened, I duly repaired to +town; and on the journey up, I saw in the 'Daily Chronicle' the +announcement of M. Zola's recent presence at the Grosvenor Hotel. This +gave me quite a shock. So the Press was on the right track at last! +Starting from the Grosvenor Hotel, might not the reporters trace the +master to Wimbledon, and thence to his present retreat? I had no time for +hesitation. My instructions, moreover, were imperative. For the benefit +of M. Zola personally, and for the benefit of the whole Dreyfus cause, I +had orders to deny everything. So I drove to the Press Association +offices, sent up a contradiction of the 'Daily Chronicle's' statement, +and then hurried up Ludgate Hill to the Court, where my name was soon +afterwards called. + +I found myself on the second or third jury got together, and that day I +was not empanelled. But on the morrow I was required to do duty; and +between then and the latter part of the week I sat upon four or five +cases--all crimes of violence, and one described in the indictment as +murder. This position was the more unpleasant for me, as I am, by strong +conviction, an adversary of capital punishment. I absolutely deny the +right of society to put any man or any woman to death, whatever be his or +her crime. My proper course then seemed to lie in the direction of a +public statement, which would have created, I suppose, some little +sensation or scandal; but happily the prosecuting counsel in his very +first words abandoned the count of murder for that of manslaughter, and I +was thereby relieved from my predicament. + +The cases on which I sat, and those to which I listened while I remained +in attendance, need not be particularised. I will merely mention that +they were nearly all due to drink. Mr. Justice Lawrance, who sat upon the +bench, was visibly impressed by the circumstance, to which he more than +once alluded in his summings up. In one case he was so good as to refer +to a question, put by me from the jury box, as a proper and pertinent +one, at which I naturally felt vastly complimented. On the second or +third day, either before the proceedings began or when the Court rose for +luncheon--I do not exactly remember which--a gentleman approached me, and +introduced himself as a member of the Press. Said he, 'I have been asking +Mr. Avory for you. You are Mr. Vizetelly, I believe?' + +'That is my name,' I answered. + +'Well, I have come to speak to you about M. Zola's presence in England.' + +I should here mention that, in spite of my contradiction of the +'Chronicle' story, there remained some people who had reason to believe +it. Moreover, it had been more or less confirmed by the 'Morning Leader,' +and some editors, rightly surmising that if M. Zola were in London he +would very likely be in communication with his usual translator, had +despatched reporters to my house, where my wife had seen them. On +learning that I was quietly during jury service at the Old Bailey, some +had apparently concluded that I was not concerned in M. Zola's movements, +which, so it happened, was the very conclusion I had desired them to +arrive at. One gentleman, however, not content with his repulse at my +house, had followed me to the Court. + +I answered his inquiries with a variety of suggestions. Zola in England, +and in London too! Well, we had heard that before, said I. But was it a +probable course for the novelist to take? He knew no English, and had but +few personal friends in England. His portraits, however, were in several +shops and in many newspapers. And only a few years previously he had been +seen by a thousand English pressmen and others. So would he not be liable +to recognition almost immediately? Now, the only modern language besides +French of which M. Zola had any knowledge was Italian. And if I were in +his place, I said, I should go to Italy--for instance, to one of the +little towns in the North, whence, if needful, one could cross over into +Switzerland; though, of course, there was little likelihood that the +Italian Government would ever surrender the distinguished writer to his +persecutors. + +Continuing in this strain I gave my interviewer material for a very +plausible article, which I remember was duly published, and which thus +helped to divert attention from the right scent. + +At the week-end, having given considerable time to jury duties, I was +compelled to spend Saturday morning in London on business, and in the +afternoon I allowed myself a few hours' relaxation. Reaching Wimbledon +about eight in the evening I called on Wareham, who received me with a +great show of satisfaction; for, said he, my services had been required +for some hours past and nobody had known where I might be. That day, it +seemed, just before Wareham had left his Bishopsgate Street office, he +had received a visit from a most singular-looking little Frenchman, who +had presented one of Maitre Labori's visiting cards and requested an +interview with M. Zola. Questioned as to his business, the only +explanation he would give was that he had with him a document in a sealed +envelope which he must place in M. Zola's own hands. Wareham had wired to +me on the matter, but owing to my absence from home had of course +received no reply. Then, on reaching Wimbledon, he had called on me and +found me out. And, finally, he had gone down to Oatlands and had there +seen M. Zola, who had handed him a note authorising Maitre Labori's +messenger to call at the hotel on the morrow. However, the messenger and +his manners had seemed very suspicious to Wareham--as, indeed, they +afterwards seemed to me--and the question arose, was he a genuine envoy, +was the writing on Maitre Labori's card perchance a forgery, and what was +the document in a sealed envelope which was to be handed to nobody but M. +Zola himself? Well, said I at a guess, perhaps it is a copy of the +Versailles judgment, and this is simply an impudent attempt to serve it. + +Wareham still had Zola's note in his possession, and we resolved to go to +town that evening to interview the messenger and extract from him some +decisive proof of his bona fides before allowing matters to go any +further. + +The envoy's address was the Salisbury Hotel, Salisbury Court, Fleet +Street, which I thought a curious one, being in the very centre of the +London newspaper district; and all the way up to town my suspicions of +having to do with a 'plant' steadily increased. It was quite ten o'clock +when we reached the hotel, and on inquiring for our party found that he +had gone to bed. + +'Well,' said Wareham, sharply, 'he must be roused. We must see him at +once.' + +I spoke to the same effect, and the hotel servants looked rather +surprised. I have an idea that they fancied we had come to arrest the +man. + +In about ten minutes he was brought downstairs. His appearance was most +unprepossessing. He was very short, with a huge head and a remarkable +shock of coal-black hair. Having hastily risen from bed, he had retained +his pyjamas, but a long frock-coat hung nearly to his slippers, and in +one hand he carried a pair of gloves, and in the other a huge eccentric +silk hat of the true chimney-pot type. These were details, and one might +have passed them over. But the man's face was sadly against him. He had +the slyest eyes I have ever seen; that peculiar shifty glance which +invariably sets one against an individual. And thus I became more and +more convinced that we had to deal with some piece of trickery. + +We entered the smoking-room where the gas was burning low. A gentleman +stopping at the hotel was snoring in solitary state in one of the arm +chairs. Reaching a table near a window we sat down and at once engaged in +battle. + +'I have not brought you a definite answer,' said Wareham to the envoy, +'but this gentleman is in M. Zola's confidence, and wishes further proof +of your bona fides before allowing you to see M. Zola.' + +Then I took up the tale, now in French, now in English, for the envoy +spoke both languages. Who was he? I asked. Did he claim to have received +Labori's card from Labori himself? What was the document in the envelope +which he would only deliver to M. Zola in person? And he replied that he +was a diamond-broker. Did I know So-and-So and So-and-So of Hatton +Garden? They knew him well, they did business with him; they could vouch +for his honorability. But no, I was not acquainted with So-and-So and +So-and-So. I never bought diamonds. Besides, it was ten o'clock on +Saturday night, and the parties mentioned were certainly not at their +offices for me to refer to them. + +Afterwards the little envoy began to speak of his family connections and +his Paris friends, mentioning various well-known names. But the proofs I +desired were not forth-coming; and when he finally admitted that he had +not received Maitre Labori's card from that gentleman himself, all my +suspicions revived. True he added that it had been given him by a +well-known Revisionist leader to whom Maitre Labori, in a moment of +emergency, having nobody of his own whom he could send abroad, had handed +it. + +But what was in the envelope? That was the great question. The envoy +could or would not answer it. He knew nothing certain on that point. Then +we--Wareham and I--brought forward our heavy artillery. We could not +allow a document to be handed to M. Zola under such mysterious +conditions. We must see it. But no, the envoy had strict instructions to +the contrary; he could not show it to us. In that case, we rejoined, he +might take it back to Paris. He had produced no proof of any of his +assertions; for all we knew he might have told us a fairy tale, and the +mysterious document might simply be a copy of the much dreaded judgment +of Versailles. This suggestion produced a visible impression on the +little man, and for half an hour we sat arguing the point. Finally he +began to compliment us: 'Oh! you guard him well!' he said. 'I shall tell +them all about it when I get back to Paris. But you do wrong to distrust +me; I am honourable. I am well known in Hatton Gardens. I have done +business there, ten, twelve years with So-and-So and So-and-So. I speak +the truth: you may believe me.' + +We shrugged our shoulders. For my part, I could not shake off the bad +impression which the envoy had made on me. The gleams of craft and +triumph which now and again I had detected in his eyes were not to my +liking. Assuredly few men are responsible for any physical repulsiveness; +we cannot all be 'Belvedere' Apollos; but then the envoy was not only of +the ugly, but also the cunning-looking class. Yet a more honourable man +never breathed. He at once thrust one hand into the depths of a capacious +inner pocket, produced the mysterious envelope, and opened it in our +presence. It contained simply a long letter from Maitre Labori, +accompanied by a document concerning the prosecution which had been +instituted with reference to the infamous articles that Ernest Judet, of +the 'Petit Journal,' had recently written, accusing Zola's father of +theft and embezzlement whilst he was a wardrobe officer in the French +Foreign Legion in Algeria. It was needful that Zola should see this +document, and return it by messenger to Paris immediately. + +The affair in question is still _sub judice_, and I must therefore speak +of it with some reticence. But all who are interested in M. Zola's origin +and career will do well to read the admirable volume written by M. +Jacques Dhur, and entitled 'Le Pere d'Emile Zola,' which the Societe +Libre d'Edition des Gens de Lettres (30, Rue Laffitte, Paris) published a +short time ago. This will show them how strong are the presumptions that +the documents cited by Judet in proof of his abominable charges are rank +forgeries--similar to those of Henry and Lemercier-Picard! In this +connection it afforded me much pleasure to be able to supply certain +extracts from Francesco Zola's works at the British Museum, showing how +subsequent to the date at which the novelist's father is alleged to have +purloined State money he was received with honour by King Louis-Philippe, +the Prince de Joinville, the Minister of War, and other high personages +of the time--incidents which all tend to establish the falsity of the +accusations by which Judet, in his venomous spite and malignity, hoped to +cast opprobrium on the parentage of my dear master and friend. + +But I must return to Maitre Labori's envoy. When I had seen the contents +of his envelope I heartily apologised to him for the suspicions which I +had cast upon his good faith. At this he smiled more maliciously and +triumphantly than ever, and then candidly remarked: 'Well, if you have +tested me, I have tested you, and I shall be able to tell all our friends +in Paris that M. Zola is in safe hands.' + +According to our previous agreement we re-sealed the envelope, writing +across it that it had been opened in the presence of Wareham and myself. +And afterwards our reconciliation also was 'sealed' over a friendly +glass. Nevertheless the envoy never saw M. Zola. M. Desmoulin luckily +turned up on the morrow, and, armed with a fresh note from the master, +persuaded our little French friend to hand him the documents. + +We left the Salisbury Hotel, Wareham and I, well pleased to find that our +suspicions had been unfounded. Nevertheless the whole conversation of the +last hour had left its mark on us; and, for my part, I was in much the +same state of mind as in the old days of the siege of Paris, when the spy +mania led to so many amusing incidents. Thus, the circumstance of finding +two persons at the corner of Salisbury Square as we left it--two persons +who were speaking in French and who eyed us very suspiciously--revived my +alarm. They even followed us along Fleet Street towards the Ludgate +Circus, and though we dodged them through the cavernous Ludgate Hill +Railway Station, across sundry courts and past the stores of Messrs. +Spiers and Pond, we again found them waiting for us on our return towards +the embankment, determined, so it seemed, to convoy us home. We hastened +our steps and they hastened theirs. We loitered, they loitered also. At +last Wareham made me dive into a side street and thence into a maze of +courts, and though the others seemed bent on following us, we at last +managed to give them the slip. + +I never saw these men again, but I have retained a strong suspicion that +no mere question of coincidence could explain that seeming pursuit. I +take it that the individuals had come over to England on the track of the +little French envoy; for it was after he had bidden us good-night outside +the Salisbury Hotel that they had turned to follow us. He had told us, +too, that earlier in the evening he had spent a hour smoking and +strolling about Salisbury Court whilst anxiously awaiting Wareham's +arrival with his promised answer. Whether these men were French police +spies, whether they were simply members of some swell mob who know that +the little gentleman with the huge head and the coal-black hair sometimes +journeyed to London with a fortune in diamonds in his possession, must +remain a mystery. As for Wareham and myself, when we had again reached +Fleet Street we hailed a passing hansom and drove away to Waterloo. + + + + VIII + + OTHER PERSONAL ADVENTURES + +I had another alarm a few days later. Returning one evening by train from +Waterloo, I was followed into the compartment I selected by a party of +five men, two of whom I recognised. One was the landlord of the Raynes +Park Hotel, now deceased, and the other his son. Their companions proved +to be Frenchmen, which somehow struck me as a curious circumstance. This +was the time when a letter addressed by me to Paris for M. Zola appeared +to have gone astray, and when we were therefore rather apprehensive of +some action on the part of the French authorities. Could it be that the +two Frenchmen who had followed me into the railway carriage in the +company of a local licensed victualler were actually staying at Raynes +Park, within half a mile of my home? And, if so, what could be their +purpose? + +I remained silent in my corner of the carriage, pretending to read a +newspaper; but on glancing up every now and then I fancied that I +detected one or another of the Frenchmen eyeing me suspiciously. They +conversed in French, either together or with the landlord's son--who +spoke their language, I found--on a variety of commonplace topics until +we had passed Earlsfield and were fast approaching Wimbledon. Then, all +at once, one of them inquired of the other: 'Shall we get out at +Wimbledon or Raynes Park?' + +'We'll see,' replied the other; and at the same time it seemed to me that +he darted a very expressive glance in my direction. + +I now began to feel rather nervous. It was my own intention to alight at +Wimbledon, as I had an important message from M. Zola to communicate to +Wareham that evening. But it now occurred to me that the best policy +might be to go straight home. If these men were French detectives, or +French newspaper men of the anti-Dreyfusite party, who by shadowing me +hoped to discover M. Zola's retreat, it would be most unwise for me to go +to Wareham's. If once the latter's name and address should be ascertained +by detectives, communications between M. Zola and his friends would be +jeopardised. On the other hand, of course, I might be mistaken with +regard to the men; and before all else I ought to make sure whether they +really had any hostile intentions. So I resolved to leave the train at +Wimbledon, as I had originally proposed doing, and then shape my course +by theirs. + +As soon as the train pulled up I rose to alight, and at that same moment +the Frenchman who had said 'We'll see,' exclaimed to his companion: +'Well, I think we will got out here.' + +I waited to hear no more. I rushed off, threw my ticket to an inspector, +climbed the steps from the platform, descended another flight into the +station-yard, hurried into the Hill Road, and did not pause until I +reached the first turning on the right. This happened to be the Alexandra +Road, in which Wareham's local office is situated. + +Then I turned round and, sure enough, I saw the two Frenchmen, the +licensed victualler and his son, deliberately coming towards me. +Forthwith, under cover of a passing vehicle, I crossed the street to the +corner of St. George's Road, which offered a convenient, shady retreat. +Then I awaited developments. To my great relief the party of four went +straight on up the Hill Road. + +Nevertheless, this might only be a feint, and I hesitated about going to +Wareham's immediately. Before anything, I had better let those suspicious +Frenchmen get right away. So I retraced my steps towards the station, and +entered the saloon bar of the South-Western Hotel. There I found a +foreign gentleman, whether French or Italian I do not know, whom I had +previously met about Wimbledon on various occasions. A short, rather +stout, and elderly man, formerly, I believe, in business in London, and +now living on his income, he had more than once spoken to me of the +Dreyfus case, Zola, Esterhazy, and all the others. And on this particular +evening he approached me with a smile, and inquired if there were any +truth in the reports he had heard to the effect that M. Zola had lately +been seen in Wimbledon. + +Nervous as I was at that moment, I was about to give him a sharp reply, +when the door of the saloon bar opened, and to my intense alarm in +marched the two Frenchmen who had already inspired me with so much +distrust. Their friends were behind them; and I could only conclude that +my movements had somehow been observed by them, and that now I was +virtually caught, like a rat in a trap. + +I was the more startled, too, when my foreign acquaintance (about whom I +really knew very little) abruptly quitted me to accost the new comers. +But this gave me breathing time. The door was free, and so, leaving the +refreshment I had ordered untouched, I bolted out of the house in much +the same way as a thief might have done, and ran, as if for my life, +right down the Alexandra Road until I reached Wareham's office. And there +I seized the knocker in a frenzy, and made such a racket as might have +awakened the dead. The door suddenly opened, and I fell into the arms of +Everson, Wareham's managing clerk. + +'Great Scott!' said he. 'What is the matter? You've nearly brought the +house down!' + +'Shut the door!' I replied. 'Shut the door!' + +'But what has happened to you?' + +I had seated myself on the stairs, and a full minute went by before I +could begin my story. Then I told Everson all that had befallen me. Some +Frenchmen were on Zola's track; they must be the very same men who had +shadowed Wareham and myself from the Salisbury Hotel some nights +previously; and now they were in Wimbledon, having heard, no doubt, that +M. Zola had been seen there. Wareham must be warned of it. Every +precaution must be taken; we must remove our charge from Oatlands, and so +forth. + +Everson puffed away at his pipe and listened meditatively. At last he +remarked, 'Well, it is a curious business if what you say is true. What +were these Frenchmen like?' + +Forthwith I began to describe them as accurately as I could. The first +likeness I sketched must have been a faithful one, for Everson started, +and exclaimed, 'And the other. Was he not so-and-so and so-and-so?' + +'Yes, he was. But how do you know that?' I rejoined, with considerable +surprise. + +'Why, because I know who the men are! Although you saw them with Mr. +Savage of the Raynes Park Hotel, it doesn't follow that they are staying +at Raynes Park. As a matter of fact they live here in this very road. +They have been here I daresay, eight or nine months now. And as for being +detectives, my dear sir, they are musicians!' + +'You don't mean it!' + +I collapsed again. To think that out of a mere chain of chance +coincidences I should have forged a perfect melodramatic intrigue! To +think that I should have let my fancy run away with me in such a fashion, +and have worked myself into such a state of nervousness and alarm! I +could not help feeling a trifle ashamed. 'Well,' I pleaded, 'for my part, +I had never seen the men before, either in Wimbledon or elsewhere. Of +course, I am short-sighted, and my eyes sometimes play me tricks; +however, as you are sure--' + +'Sure!' repeated Everson; and again he described the men in such a way as +to convince me that there was no mistake in the matter. 'Moreover,' he +added, 'I saw them go past the house this very morning when they went up +to town.' + +'Well,' I rejoined, 'I suppose I am losing my head. Ten minutes ago I +could have sworn that those men were after me.' + +'Your statement that you never saw them before,' said Everson, 'does not +surprise me. As a rule they go to town every morning, and as you are +seldom in Wimbledon in the evening you can't very well meet one another.' + +'I suppose you regard me as a bit of a fool?' I inquired. + +'Oh, no. The circumstances were curious enough, and in your place I might +have drawn the same conclusions. Only I don't think I should have hurried +off to a friend's house and have nearly "knocked" it down.' + +We both laughed, and then I apologised. + +'As a matter of fact,' said I, 'all this is the natural outcome of +events. The beginning was long ago. I have a secret which I find haunting +me when I get up in the morning; all day long it occupies my mind; at +night it clings to me and follows me through my sleep. And I grow more +and more suspicious; it seems as if everybody I meet has designs upon my +secret. Every Frenchman I don't know is a detective or a process server +with a copy of the Versailles judgment in his pockets. And thus I shall +soon become a monomaniac if I do not discover some remedy. I think I +shall try the shower-bath system.' + +Then I recalled experiences dating from long prior to M. Zola's arrival +in England. First mysterious offers of important documents bearing on the +Dreyfus case--documents forged a la Lemercier-Picard, hawked about by +adventurers who tried to dispose of them, now in Paris, now in Brussels, +and now in London. Needless to say that I, like others, had rejected them +with contempt. Then had come an incident that Everson already know of: a +stranger with divers aliases beseeching me for private interviews in M. +Zola's interest, a request which I ultimately granted, and which led to a +rather curious experience. I had declined to see my correspondent alone, +and had given him the address of Wareham, who had been present at the +interview. And at first the stranger, a tall and energetic looking man, +with sunburnt face and heavy moustaches, had refused to disclose his +business in Wareham's presence. If at last he did so, it was solely +because I told him that before coming to any decision in the matters +which he might have to submit to me I should certainly lay them before my +solicitor. So the result would be the same, whether he spoke out before +Wareham or not. And Wareham very properly added that a solicitor was, in +a measure, a confessor bound to observe professional secrecy. + +At last the man told us his business, and it proved to be a scheme for +rescuing Dreyfus from Devil's Island and carrying him to an American +port. Neither Wareham nor myself was able to take the matter seriously, +but our visitor spoke with great earnestness, as though he already saw +the suggested feat accomplished. He had a ship at his disposal, and a +crew also. He gave particulars about both. If I remember rightly, the +ship lay at Bristol. He knew Cayenne and Devil's Island, and Royal +Island, and so forth. He was convinced of the practicability of the +venture, he had weighed all the _pros_ and _cons_, and it rested with +Dreyfus's friends and relatives to decide whether or no he (the prisoner) +should be a free man within another six weeks. + +Wareham laughed. He was thinking of 'Captain Kettle,' and said so. But +the would-be rescuer protested that all this was no romancing. Oh! he was +not a philanthropist, he should expect to be well paid for his services; +but the Dreyfus family was rich, and M. Zola, too, was a man of means. So +surely they would not begrudge the necessary funds to release the unhappy +prisoner from bondage. + +But I replied that though the Dreyfus family and M. Zola also were +anxious to see Dreyfus free, they were yet more anxious to prove his +innocence. Personally I knew nothing of the Dreyfus family, and could +give no letter of introduction to any member of it, such as I was asked +for. And, as regards M. Zola, I was sufficiently acquainted with his +character to say that he would never join in any such enterprise. He +intended to pursue his campaign by legal means alone, and it was useless +to refer the matter to him. + +Then the interview ended rather abruptly. A French client of Wareham's +happened to call at that very moment, and was heard speaking in French in +the hall. This seemed to alarm the stranger, who ceased pressing his +request that I should give him letters of introduction to prominent +Dreyfusites. He rose abruptly, saying that the time would come when we +should probably regret having refused to entertain his proposals, and +hurrying past the waiting French client he ran off down the Alexandra +Road in much the same way as I myself subsequently ran off from the +French 'detectives' who were simply harmless disciples of St. Cecilia. + +To this day I do not know whether the man was a lunatic, an imposter +seeking money, or an _agent provocateur_, that is, one who imagined that +he might through me inveigle M. Zola into an illegal act which would lead +to prosecution and imprisonment. The last-mentioned status that I have +ascribed to my interviewer is by no means an impossible one, considering +the many dastardly attempts made to discredit and ruin M. Zola. And yet, +suspicious and abrupt as was the man's leave-taking when he heard French +being spoken outside Wareham's private room (where the interview took +place), I nowadays think it more charitable to assume that he was a +trifle crazy. One thing is certain, he had come to the wrong person in +applying to me to aid and abet him in the foolhardy enterprise he spoke +of. + +This is the first time I have told this anecdote in any detail; but at +the period when the incident occurred I spoke of it casually to a few +friends, to which circumstance I am inclined to attribute the earlier +paragraphs which appeared in the newspapers about American schemes for +delivering Dreyfus. The person whom I saw was, I believe, a +German-American. + +Well, this incident, preposterous as it may appear (but truth, remember, +is quite as fantastic as fiction), had proved another link in the chain +of suspicious occurrences in which I had been mixed up prior to M. Zola's +exile. Other curious little incidents had followed, and thus for many +months I had been living--even as we lived long ago in besieged Paris--in +distrust of all strangers, and the climax had come with my foolish fears +respecting a couple of French musicians. The story I have told goes +against me, but the man who cannot tell a story against himself when he +thinks it a good one can have, I think, little grit in his composition. + +From the time of my adventure with the French musicians I steeled myself +against excessive fears whilst remaining duly vigilant. On one point I +was still anxious, which was that M. Zola should be able to settle down +in a convenient retreat where him himself would enjoy all necessary +quietude; whilst we, Wareham and I, knowing him to be well screened from +his enemies, would be less liable to those 'excursions and alarums' which +had hitherto troubled us. As the next chapter will show, this +consummation was near at hand. + + + + IX + + A QUIET HOME AND A HAUNTED HOUSE + +It was M. Zola himself who, after some stay at Oatlands, discovered, in +the course of his excursions with M. Desmoulin, a retreat to his liking. +It was a house in that part of Surrey belonging to a city merchant, who +was willing to let it furnished for a limited period. The owner met M. +Zola on various occasions and showed himself both courteous and discreet. + +The details of the 'letting' were arranged between him and Mr. Wareham; +and my wife hastily procured servants for the new establishment. These +servants, however, did not speak French, and I settled with M. Zola that +my eldest daughter, Violette, should stay with him to act in some measure +as his housekeeper and interpreter. This was thrusting a young girl, not +quite sixteen, into a position of considerable responsibility, but I +thought that Violette would be equal to the task, provided she followed +the instructions and advice of her mother; and as she was then at home +for the summer holidays she was sent down to M. Zola's without more ado. + +I shall have occasion to speak of her hereafter in some detail, in +connection with a very curious incident which marked M. Zola's exile. +Here I will merely mention that a Parisienne by birth and speaking French +from her infancy, it was easy for her to understand and explain the +master's requirements. + +Like M. Zola, she was provided with a bicycle, and the pair of them +occasionally spent an afternoon speeding along leafy Surrey lanes and +visiting quaint old villages. The mornings, however, were devoted to +work, for it was now that M. Zola started on his novel, 'Fecondite,' the +first of a series of four volumes, which will be, he considers, his +literary testament. + +These books, indeed, are to embody what he regards as the four cardinal +principles of human life. First Fruitfulness, as opposed to +neo-Malthusianism, which he holds to be the most pernicious of all +doctrines; next Work, as opposed to the idleness of the drones, whom he +would sweep away from the human community; then Truth, as opposed to +falsehood, hypocrisy, and convention; and, finally, Justice to one and +all, in lieu of charity to some, oppression to others, and favours for +the privileged few. + +All four books--'Fruitfulness,' 'Work,' 'Truth,' and 'Justice'--are to be +stories; for years ago M. Zola arrived at the conclusion that mere essays +on sociology, though they may work good in time among people of culture, +fail to reach and impress the masses in the same way as a story may do. +It is, I take it, largely on this account that Emile Zola has become a +novelist. He has certainly written essays, but he knows how +inconsiderable have been their sales in comparison with those of his +works embodying precisely the same principles, but placed before the +world in the form of novels. To criticise him as a mere story-teller is +arrant absurdity. + +He himself put the whole case in a nutshell when he remarked, 'My novels +have always been written with a higher aim than merely to amuse. I have +so high an opinion of the novel as a means of expression that I have +chosen it as the form in which to present to the world what I wish to say +on the social, scientific, and psychological problems that occupy the +minds of thinking men. I might have said what I wanted to say to the +world in another form. But the novel has to-day risen from the place +which it held in the last century at the banquet of letters. It was then +the idle pastime of the hour, and sat low down between the fable and the +idyll. To-day it contains, or may be made to contain, everything; and it +is because that is my creed that I am a novelist. I have, to my thinking, +certain contributions to make to the thought of the world on certain +subjects, and I have chosen the novel as the best means of communicating +these contributions to the world.' + +If critics in reviewing one or another of M. Zola's books would only bear +these declarations of the author in mind, the reading public would often +be spared many irrelevant and foolish remarks. + +M. Zola's device is _Nulla dies sine linea_, and even before the +materials for 'Fecondite' were brought to him from France he had given an +hour or two each day to the penning of notes and impressions for +subsequent use. With the arrival of his books and memoranda, work began +in a more systematic way. At half-past eight every morning he partook of +a cup of coffee and a roll and butter, no more, and shortly after nine he +was at his table in a small room overlooking the garden of the house he +had rented. And there he remained regularly, hard at work, until the +luncheon hour, covering sheet after sheet of quarto paper with serried +lines of his firm, characteristic handwriting. + +M. Zola has retained possession of the MSS. of almost every work written +by him, and I know that these MSS. often differ largely from the books +actually given to the world. The 'copy' is not only extremely clear, but +remarkably free from erasures and interpolations. But when his first +proofs reach him M. Zola revises them with the greatest care. He will +strike out whole passages in the most drastic manner, and alter others +until they are almost unrecognisable. + +He will even at the last moment change some character's name, and I know +all the inconvenience that arises on certain occasions from having had to +prepare portions of my translations from first proofs, through lack of +time to wait for the corrected matter. + +This was notably the case with my version of 'Paris.' While that work was +passing through the Press M. Zola was already in all the throes of the +Dreyfus affair, and somehow, as he has acknowledged to me with regret, he +forgot to tell me that at the last moment he had changed the names of +several personages in the story. Thus Duthil (as originally written and +given in my translation) became Dutheil in the French book; Sagnier was +changed to Sanier; the Princess de Horn was renamed Harn and finally +Harth, and young Lord George Eliott became Elson. + +Of course some of the reviewers of my translations attacked me virulently +for my unwarrantable presumption in changing the very names of M. Zola's +characters; they were unaware that the names given by me were those first +selected by the author, who had afterwards altered them and forgotten to +tell me of it. + +Coming back to 'Fecondite,' I should say that M. Zola wrote an average of +three pages per day of that book during his exile in England. Work ceased +at the luncheon hour, as I have said, and consequently he could dispose +of his afternoons. + +But it will be remembered that the summer of 1898 was exceptionally hot, +so hot indeed that M. Zola, though many years of his childhood were spent +under the scorching sun of Provence, found a siesta absolutely necessary +after the midday meal. It was only later that he ventured out on foot or +on his bicycle, often taking his hand camera with him. + +At some distance from the house where he was residing, in the midst of +large deserted grounds, overrun with grass and weeds, there stood a +mournful-looking, unoccupied private residence of some architectural +pretensions, on the building of which a considerable sum had evidently +been expended. The place took M. Zola's fancy the first time he passed it +on his bicycle. The iron entrance gate was broken, and he was able to +enter the garden and peep through the ground-floor windows. + +All spoke of decay and abandonment; and when, through my daughter, M. +Zola began to make inquiries about the place, he was told a fantastic +tragic story. A murder, it was said, had been committed there many years +previously; a poor little girl had been killed by her stepmother, and her +remains had been buried beneath a scullery floor. + +There was also talk of the child's father, who at night drove up to the +house in a phantom carriage drawn by ghostly horses, and hammered at the +door of the mansion and shouted aloud for his dead child! + +The story was alleged to be well known, and it was said that not a girl +from Chertsey to Esher, from Walton to Byfleet, would have dared to pass +that house after nightfall, when harrowing voices rang out through the +trees, and the shadowy horses of the ghostly carriage trotted swiftly and +silently over the gravel. + +The story not only impressed my daughter Violette, but it greatly +interested M. Zola, on whose behalf I made various inquiries. For +instance, I closely questioned an old gardener who had known the district +for long years. All he could tell me, however, was that there were +certainly some strange rumours abroad among the womenfolk, but that for +his own part he had never heard of any crime and had never seen any +ghost. + +And at last others told me quite a different story of the house's +abandonment, and this I here venture to give, though I certainly cannot +vouch for its accuracy. The place had been built, it seemed, some forty +years previously by a retired and wealthy London pawnbroker, a gaunt, +shrivelled old man, who, mounted on a white mare, had in his declining +years been a familiar figure on the roads of the district. + +Extremely eccentric, he had largely furnished and decorated the house +with unredeemed articles that had been pledged with him. There was +nothing _en suite_. Old chairs of divers patterns were mingled with odd +tables and sideboards and sofas; there were also innumerable daubs +'ascribed' to old masters, and a wonderful display of Wardour-street +_bric-a-brac_. But, indeed, one has only to look at an average +pawnbroker's shop to picture what kind of articles the house must have +contained. + +It seems that the old fellow in question had three daughters, whom he +kept more or less imprisoned on his recently-acquired property, though +they were charming girls well worthy of being sought in marriage; and the +story I heard was that three officers sojourning in the district had one +day espied the three forlorn damsels over the garden hedge, and had +forthwith begun to court them, much to the ire of the misanthropic, +retired pawnbroker. That stern old gentleman ordered his daughters into +the house, and then kept them in stricter confinement than ever. + +But love laughs at locksmiths, and the amorous officers eventually +carried the place by storm, and beat down all parental resistance. Three +weddings followed on the same day, and all ended for a time as in a fairy +tale. But the old pawnbroker subsequently married again to relieve his +solitude, and after his death his will was attacked, and an interminable +lawsuit ensued, with the result that the property was left unoccupied. +Now, it appeared, it was for sale, and before long would probably be cut +up into building plots. + +Whatever romantic element there might be in the story of the pawnbroker +and his daughters, M. Zola much preferred the popular and gruesome legend +of the little girl murdered in the scullery; and, some time later, when +he consented to write a short story for 'The Star,' it was this legend +which he took as his basis, building thereon the pathetic sketch of +'Angeline,' the scene of which he transferred to France. + +He has stated in his article 'Justice,' published in Paris on his return +from exile, that during most of the time he spent in England he was +virtually in a desert. There were people about him of course; but he +retired into himself as it were, communing with his own thoughts, and +seeking no intercourse with strangers. This is true of the period to +which I am now referring. Still he did not complain of solitude. In fact +he knew that quiet was essential for his work. Only once or twice did +anything happen of a nature to cause any anxiety. Neither Wareham nor +myself was much troubled at this period; there was a lull even in the +periodical visits which gentlemen of the Press kindly favoured me. + +Still we had taken our precautions by admitting a mutual friend, Mr. A. +W. Pamplin, into our confidence. If M. Zola's communications with Paris, +through Wareham and myself, should be threatened, Mr. Pamplin was to take +upon himself the duty of re-establishing them. + +At M. Zola's house there was, so far as I am aware, but one brief +_alerte_. This occurred one afternoon, when a servant came to my daughter +with the tidings that there was a French hunchback at the door. Violette +impulsively rushed off to tell M. Zola of it; but when in her turn she +went to the door to see who the person might be, she found that he was an +Englishman, a traveller for some county directory, who had merely +performed his legitimate work in requesting to know the name of the +occupier of the house. Of course the only name given was that of the +owner, then absent at the seaside. + +Thus the hot days sped by peacefully enough. M. Zola had at least found +occupation and quietude, though it was naturally impossible that he +should feel content with his lot. Each day brought more and more home to +him the consciousness that he was in exile, and that contumely had been +his reward for seeking to save France from the shame of a great crime. + +I have previously mentioned that during the first week or so of his +sojourn in England he had refused to look at newspapers and--at least so +it seemed to me--had sought to banish the Dreyfus affair and his own +troubles from his mind, much as one might seek to drive away a hateful +nightmare. But before long he again fell under the spell and followed the +course of events with the keenest interest. And again and again, reading +of the great battle being waged in France, he longed to return home, and +grew restless and impatient. + +Moreover a complaint from which he has suffered on and off for some years +troubled him on more than one occasion. He always rallied, however, and +returned to his work with renewed energy. 'Fecondite' was already taking +shape in the leafy solitude in which he dwelt. And undoubtedly the steady +task of creation, resumed morning by morning, greatly helped him to quiet +the anguish of heart which the course of events in France would otherwise +have rendered intolerable. + + + NOTE.--While this work was appearing serially in the 'Evening + News' I received numerous letters from readers interested in + various matters mentioned by me. With respect to the foregoing + chapter, a lady living at Staines wrote saying that she was + looking out for 'a cheap haunted house,' and asking for the + address of the one I had mentioned. I was unable to comply with + her request, as personally I do not believe the house was haunted + at all. Moreover, to prevent the sale or letting of any particular + house by asserting it to be haunted would be an offence under the + libel laws. As I could not tell what course my lady-correspondent + might take in the matter, I preferred not to answer her. May she + forgive me my impoliteness! + + + + X + + 'LE REVE': THE DREAM + +When the owner of the house which M. Zola had rented desired to resume +possession, it became necessary to find new quarters of a similar +character for the master. And so he was transferred to another Surrey +country house where the arrangements remained much the same as +previously: work every morning, resting or bicycling in the afternoon, +followed by newspaper reading and letter-writing in the evening. + +The grounds of M. Zola's new retreat were very extensive, and in part +very shady, which last circumstance proved extremely welcome to the +novelist, who on coming to 'cold, damp, foggy England,' as the French put +it, had never imagined that he would have to endure a temperature +approaching that of the tropics. + +The heat deprived him of appetite, and, moreover, he did not particularly +relish some of the dishes provided for him by a new cook who had lately +been engaged. We all know how great is the servant difficulty even under +the best of circumstances; and when cooks and maids have to be secured in +hot haste an entirely satisfactory result is hardly to be expected. +Moreover, many servants refuse to live in country retirement, far away +from their 'followers,' and thus one has at times to take such as one can +find. + +As for the cookery to which M. Zola was at certain periods treated, he +beheld it with wonder and repulsion. His tastes are simple, but to him +the plain, boiled, watery potato and the equally watery greens were +abominations. Plum tart, though served hot (why not cold, like the French +_tarte_?) might be more or less eatable; but, surely, apple pudding--the +inveterate breeder of indigestion--was the invention of a savage race. +And why, when a prime steak was grilled, should the cook water it in +order to produce 'gravy,' instead of applying to it a little butter and +chopped parsley? This, Dundreary-wise, was one of those things which +nobody, not even M. Zola, could understand. + +However, a visit to a fishmonger's shop had made him acquainted with the +haddock, the kipper, and likewise the humble bloater; and occasionally, I +believe, when his appetite needed a stimulant he turned to the smoked +fish, which seemed so novel to his palate. The cook, of course, was +mightily incensed thereat. For her part, she most certainly would not eat +haddock or kippers for dinner; she had too much self-respect to do such a +thing, so she boiled or roasted a leg of mutton for her own repast and +the maids'. I do not say that she was wrong; and, indeed, M. Zola never +forced people to eat what they did not care for. + +But in the same way he wished for something that he himself could eat, +and he was weary of the perpetual joint and the vegetables _a l'eau_. One +day, when in a jocular spirit he was talking to me on this subject, I +told him that we English had a saying to the effect that 'God sent us +food, but the devil invented cooks.' + +'You are quite right,' he replied, 'only as a Frenchman I should put it +this way: "God sent us food, but the devil invented English cooks."' + +Towards the end of August he again became very dispirited. The 'cause' +did not at that time appear to be prospering in France, where so many +people remained under the spell of the deceptive declarations and +documents which had been made public in the Chamber of Deputies by War +Minister Cavaignac early in July. + +Of course the Revisionists were still hard at work, but in the face of M. +Cavaignac's speech, placarded throughout the 36,000 townships of France, +they seemed to have a very uphill task before them. The anti-Dreyfusites +on their side were more arrogant than ever, and although M. Zola never +once lost faith in the justice of his cause and its ultimate triumph, he +did, on more than one occasion, question whether that triumph would come +in a peaceful way. + +Felix Faure was then still President of the Republic, and I am abusing, I +think, no confidence in saying that M. Zola regarded that vain, showy man +as one of the great obstacles to the victory of truth and justice. Faure, +he said to me, had undoubtedly at one time enjoyed well-deserved +popularity; he, Zola, had been received by him and in the most cordial +manner. But the President's intercourse with crowned heads, and his +intimacy with arrogant general officers, coupled with all the flummery of +the Protocole, all the pomp and display observed whenever he stirred from +the Palace of the Elysee, had virtually turned his head. He was in the +hands of those military men who opposed revision, and he shielded them +because their downfall would mean his own. He was bent on the hushing-up +course lest his Presidency should become synonymous with a great judicial +crime; he feared that he might be forced to resign even before his term +of office was over, or, at all events, that he might have to abandon all +hope of re-election. + +And thus with the President and the more prominent generals opposed to +revision, M. Zola, though confident in the final issue, more than once +said to me that there might be serious trouble before all was over. + +He was now kept very well informed of all that took place in France; +intelligence often reached him before it appeared in the newspapers; and +now and again he told me what was brewing. Going backward, too, he +confided to me some curious particulars of the genesis of the Revisionist +campaign. But he will himself some day tell all this in a book of his +own, and I must not anticipate him. I will only say that various +important things he mentioned to me in the autumn of 1898 have since +become well-known, acknowledged facts, and I have every reason to believe +that time will duly show the accuracy of those which have not as yet been +publicly revealed. + +There is one point to which I must refer at more length. In his +declaration 'Justice,' published on the expiration of his exile, M. Zola +stated that he had long suspected Colonel Henry, though he had possessed +no actual proof of that officer's guilt. This is so true, that I well +recollect listening to a conversation between him and M. Desmoulin during +the first days of their sojourn in England, when they compared notes with +respect to their impressions of Henry, whom they had particularly noticed +at Versailles on the occasion of M. Zola's sentence by default. + +They had then observed how nervous and crestfallen the colonel +looked--the very picture, indeed, of a man who dreads the discovery of +his guilt. This was the more remarkable, as Henry's confident arrogance +at the earlier trial in Paris had been so conspicuous. The man had a +skeleton in his cupboard--to Zola and Desmoulin that was certain. + +M. Zola is a good physiognomist, and his friend (as a portraitist) is +scarcely less gifted in that respect, and they felt equally certain of +Henry's culpability. As yet they could not say that it was he who had +actually forged that famous 'absolute proof' of Dreyfus's guilt, which +they knew to have been forged by some one, but that time would prove him +guilty of some abominable machination was to them a foregone conclusion. + +One day, it must have been I suppose the 31st of August, a rather strange +telegram in French reached me for transmission to M. Zola. It came from +Paris, and was, so far as I remember, to this effect: 'Be prepared for a +great success.' + +A name I was acquainted with followed; but what the telegram might mean I +knew not. There was absolutely nothing in the newspapers with reference +to any great success achieved at that moment by the Revisionist party; +but possibly the message might refer to one or another of M. Zola's +lawsuits, such as that with the 'Petit Journal' or that with the +handwriting experts. I re-telegraphed it to M. Zola, and that day, at all +events, I thought no more of the matter. + +But I afterwards learnt that the telegram had perplexed him quite as much +as it perplexed me. A great success? What could it be? He racked his mind +in vain. He reviewed all the phases and aspects of the Dreyfus case, +wondering whether this or that had happened, but not suspecting the +public revelations which were then impending, the tragedy which was being +enacted. + +For a while he walked up and down, feverish and anxious (he was at the +time in poor health), and then he would fling himself on a sofa, still +and ever indulging in his surmises. With that kind of prescience which he +had so frequently displayed in the Dreyfus affair, he felt certain that +something very important had occurred, for otherwise such a mysterious +telegram would never have been sent him. This lasted the whole evening. + +My daughter Violette was with him at the time, and his feverishness +doubtless gained on her. At last she retired to rest, while M. Zola, +according to his wont, carried a lamp into his own room to sit there a +while and read some French newspapers which had reached him, via Wareham, +by the evening delivery. There was nothing in them of a nature to explain +the mysterious telegram; still he read on and on in the hope, as it were, +of quieting himself. + +It was, I believe, between eleven o'clock and midnight when he rose to go +to bed, and as he did so he heard some loud exclamations, followed by a +cry. At first he fancied that the calls came from one of the servants' +rooms, and he paused on the landing. Then, however, as they were +repeated, he found that they came from my daughter's apartment. With +fatherly solicitude he waited and listened. Violette was calling in her +sleep. + +Practical enough in matters of everyday life, this girl of mine has +literary partialities of a somewhat gruesome kind, and her avowed +ambition (I quote her own words) is to write, some day, stories full of +witches and wizards, that shall make people's flesh creep. For this +reason I keep such of Anne Radcliffe's uncanny novels as I possess +carefully locked up. + +I can well remember my daughter telling me at times of strange things +dreamt by her in her sleep; but not of being of a romantic or a mystical +turn myself, I have usually pooh-poohed all this as nonsense. And such I +believe is the course which fathers usually adopt if their daughters' +imaginations begin to run riot. + +As for M. Zola, when he heard Violette calling in her sleep, his first +impulse was to rouse her, but all suddenly became still again. The girl +had probably sunk into a more peaceful slumber. And so, after waiting a +few minutes longer, he thought it best to leave her as she was. + +Nothing further disturbed M. Zola that night; but on the following +morning, when he met Violette downstairs, he asked her how she felt, and +told her that he had heard her calling in her sleep. He had probably +formed the same opinion as I should have formed under the circumstances, +namely, that it was a case of indigestion or a little excitement. + +But she turned to him and replied, 'Oh! I had such a frightful dream. . . +I was in a big black place, and there was a man on the ground covered +with blood, and people were crowding round him, talking with great +excitement. And I saw you, Monsieur Zola, and you came up looking like a +giant and waved your arms again and again, and seemed well pleased.' + +M. Zola was dumbfounded. He could make nothing of it. A man in a pool of +blood and others round him; and he, Zola, waving his arms and looking +well pleased! It was nonsense; and he was disposed to laugh at the girl +and chide her. But a little later, with the arrival of some morning +newspapers, the position suddenly changed. + +Here I should mention that as the Paris journals only reached M. Zola +with a delay of twelve or four-and-twenty hours, it had just been +arranged that he should be supplied with two or three London papers every +morning, and that he and Violette between them should put the telegrams +concerning the Dreyfus business into French. + +He opened one of these English newspapers--which it was I do not +recollect--and there he saw a whole column dealing with the arrest and +confession of Colonel Henry. The heading to the telegrams, the very words +'arrest' and 'confession,' made everything intelligible to M. Zola; and +beneath all this came a brief wire headed, I think, 'Paris, midnight,' +and worded much to this effect: 'Colonel Henry has been found dead in his +cell at Mont Valerien.' + +So that was the man whom Violette, in her dream, had seen weltering in a +pool of blood, surrounded by his custodians, who had rushed in full of +excitement! M. Zola's presence in that vision was, so to say, symbolical. +'He had waved his arms and had seemed well pleased'--so the girl had put +it in her frank, artless way. 'Well pleased' may perhaps appear to be +scarcely the correct expression. At all events, it needs to be +interpreted. Most certainly Zola never desired the death of a sinner; +but, on the other hand, he could only feel some satisfaction at knowing +that Henry's crime was at last divulged to the world. + +This, then, is how my daughter dreamt Henry's death. I do not wish to +insist unduly on the incident, and I have no intention of appealing to +the Psychical Research Society to test, corroborate, or disprove the +case. + +There was one rather curious feature that I have not yet mentioned. My +daughter has assured me that during the same night she dreamt the same +thing over and over again. She tried to banish the vision, but ever and +ever it returned, as if to impress itself indelibly upon her mind. And +ever did she see M. Zola waving his arms as he hovered round the scene. + +At that time the girl knew nothing of Colonel Henry; she understood very +little about the Dreyfus case; and all she had to go upon was the +enigmatical telegram and M. Zola's talk during the evening, when he was +expressing his thoughts aloud. But at that moment he had foreseen no +death, murder, or suicide, and if the possibility of any arrest had +occurred to him it was that of M. du Paty de Clam, which the Revisionist +papers were then demanding. + +It is true that in infancy my daughter had often seen Mont Valerien, as I +lived for some years at Boulogne-sur-Seine, and the hill and fortress +towering across the river were then familiar objects to us all. But the +girl was little more than a baby at the time, and so this circumstance +can have exercised no influence upon her. Moreover, she has told me that +she had no notion as to what might be the actual scene of her dream; it +merely appeared to her that she was in France, because the people she saw +raised ejaculations in French. + +Passing from this incident, I may point out that the telegram sent to M. +Zola through me was explained by the news in the English newspapers. It +was evident that the 'great success' referred to in the message was the +discovery of Henry's forgery and possibly his arrest. + +Directly I saw the news in a London newspaper I hurried off to M. Zola's, +and when I reached his abode about noon I found him expecting me. We then +went over matters together, the press telegrams, my daughter's dream and +the probable outcome of the whole affair. + +As was natural, M. Zola was quite excited. First, the document which +Henry had confessed to having forged was the very one that General de +Pellieux had imported into the Zola trial in Paris as convincing proof of +Dreyfus's guilt. At that time already its effect had been very great; it +had destroyed all chance of M. Zola's acquittal. Then, too, it had been +solemnly brought forward in the Chamber of Deputies by War Minister +Cavaignac, who had vouched for its authenticity. And now, as previously +alleged by Colonel Picquart, it was shown to be a forgery of the +clumsiest kind. + +Here at least was 'a new fact' warranting the revision of the whole +Dreyfus case. Surely the blindest bigot could not resist such evidence of +the machinations of those who had sent Dreyfus to Devil's Island; truth +and justice would speedily triumph, and in a week or two he, Zola, would +be able to return to France again. + +But he did not take sufficient account of human obstinacy and vileness. +His friends, to whom he appealed on the subject of his return, urged him +to remain where he was, for the battle, they said, was by no means over, +and his name was still like the red scarf of the matador that goads the +bull to fury. The advice proved good, for again were passions stirred. +Henry, the ignoble forger, was raised to the position of martyr, and +Cavaignac and Zurlinden and Chanoine in turn strove to impede the course +of justice. 'Hope deferred maketh the heart sick,' and thus M. Zola, +finding so many difficulties in the way of his return, abandoned for a +time all work and fell into brooding melancholy. + + + + XI + + THROUGH THE AUTUMN + +Important events were now taking place in Paris. Cavaignac resigned the +position of War Minister and was succeeded by Zurlinden; Du Paty de Clam +was turned out of the army; Esterhazy, who had likewise been 'retired,' +fled from France, Mme. Dreyfus addressed to the Minister of Justice a +formal application for the revision of her unfortunate husband's case; +and that application was in the first instance referred to a Commission +of judges and functionaries. Then General Zurlinden resigned his +Ministerial office, and again becoming Governor of Paris, apprehended the +gallant Picquart on a ridiculous charge of forgery, and cast him into +close confinement in a military prison. There was talk, too, of a +military plot in Paris, and again and again were attempts made to prevent +the granting of Revision. + +Throughout those days of alternate hope and fear M. Zola suffered keenly. +It was, too, about this time that he heard of the death of his favourite +dog--an incident to which I have previously referred as coming like a +blow of fate in the midst of all his anxiety. + +When he rallied he spoke to me of his desire to familiarise himself in +some degree with the English language, with the object principally of +arriving at a more accurate understanding of the telegrams from Paris +which he found in the London newspapers. A dictionary, a conversation +manual, and an English grammar for French students were then obtained; +and whenever he felt that he needed a little relaxation, he took up one +or another of these books and read them, as he put it to me, 'from a +philosophical point of view.' + +Later I procured him a set of Messrs. Nelson's 'Royal Readers' for +children, when he greatly praised, declaring them to be much superior to +the similar class of work current in France. Afterwards he himself +purchased a prettily illustrated edition of the classic 'Vicar of +Wakefield' (the work to which all French young ladies are put when +learning our language), but he found portions difficult to understand, +and a French friend then procured him an edition in which the text is +printed in French and English on alternate pages. + +One day when he had been dipping into English papers and books he tackled +me on rather a curious point. 'Why is it,' said he, 'that the Englishman +when he writes of himself should invariably use a capital letter? That +tall "I" which recurs so often in a personal narrative strikes me as +being very arrogant. A Frenchman, referring to himself, writes _je_ with +a small _j_; a German, though he may gratify all his substantives with +capital letters, employs a small _i_ in writing _ich_; a Spaniard, when +he uses the personal pronoun at all, bestows a small _y_ on his _yo_, +while he honours the person he addresses with a capital _V_. I believe, +indeed--though I am not sufficiently acquainted with foreign languages to +speak with certainty on the point--that the Englishman is the only person +in the world who applies a capital letter to himself. That "I" strikes me +as the triumph of egotism. It is tall, commanding, and so brief! "I"--and +that suffices. How did it originate?' + +It was difficult for me to answer M. Zola on the point; I am a very poor +scholar in such a matter, and I could find nothing on the subject in any +work of reference I had by me. I surmised, however, that the capital I, +as a personal pronoun, was a survival of the time when English, whether +written or printed, was studded with capitals, even as German is to-day. +If I am wrong, perhaps some one who knows better will correct me. One +thing I have often noticed is that a child's first impulse is to write +'i,' and that it is only after admonition that the aggressive and +egotistical 'I' supplants the humbler form of the letter. This did not +surprise M. Zola, since vanity, like most other vices, is acquired, not +inherent in our natures. But in a chaffing way he suggested that one +might write a very humorous essay on the English character by taking as +one's text that tall, stiff, and self-assertive letter 'I.' + +How far M. Zola actually carried his study of English I could hardly say, +but during the last months of his exile he more than once astonished me +by his knowledge of an irregular verb or of the correct comparative and +superlative of an adjective. And if he seldom attempted to speak English, +he at least made considerable progress in reading it. By the time he +returned to France he could always understand any Dreyfus news in the +English papers. Of course the language in which the news was couched was +of great help to him, as in three instances out of four it was simply +direct translation from the French. + +In this connection, while praising many features of the English Press, M. +Zola more than once expressed to me his surprise that so much of the +Paris news printed in London should be simply taken from Paris journals. +Some correspondents, said he, never seemed to go anywhere or to see +anybody themselves. They purely and simply extracted everything from +newspapers. This he was able to check by means of the many Paris prints +which he received regularly. + +'Here,' he would say, 'this paragraph is taken verbatim from "Le Figaro"; +this other appeared in "Le Temps," this other in "Le Siecle,"' and so +forth. And he was not alluding to extracts from editorials, but to +descriptive matter--accounts of demonstrations and ceremonies, +fashionable weddings and other social functions, interviews, and so +forth. The practice upset all his ideas of a foreign correspondent's +duties, which should be to obtain first-hand and not second-hand +information. + +In principle this is of course correct, but a correspondent cannot be +everywhere at the same time; and nowadays, moreover, English journalists +in Paris do not enjoy quite the same facilities as formerly. As regards +more particularly the Dreyfus business, the French, with a sensitiveness +that can be understood, have all along deprecated anything in the way of +foreign interference, and the English Pressman of inquiring mind on the +subject has more than once met with a rebuff from those in a position to +give information. Again, the political difficulties between the two +countries of recent years have often placed the Paris correspondents in a +very invidious position. + +This brings me to the Fashoda trouble, which arose last autumn while M. +Zola was still in his country retreat. The great novelist's enemies have +often alleged that he was no true Frenchman; but for my part, after +thirty years' intimacy with the French, I would claim for him that his +country counts no better patriot. He is on principle opposed to warfare, +but there is a higher patriotism than that which consists in perpetually +beating the big drum, and that higher patriotism is Zola's. + +The Fashoda difficulties troubled him sorely, and directly it seemed +likely that the situation might become serious he told me that it would +be impossible for him to remain in England. The progress of the +negotiations between France and Great Britain was watched with keen +vigilance, and M. Zola was ready to start at the first sign of those +negotiations collapsing. As all his friends were opposed to his return to +France (they had again virtually forbidden it late in September when the +Brisson Ministry finally submitted the case for revision to the Criminal +Chamber of the Cour de Cassation), he would probably have gone to +Belgium, but I doubt whether he would have remained long in that country. + +I have said that M. Zola is opposed to warfare on principle. His views in +this respect have long been shared by me. Life's keenest impressions are +those acquired in childhood and youth. And in my youth--I was but +seventeen, though already acting as a war correspondent, the youngest, I +suppose, on record--I witnessed war attended by every horror:--A city, +Paris, starved by the foreigner and subsequently in part fired by some of +its own children. And between those disasters, having passed through the +hostile lines, I saw an army of 125,000 men with 350 guns, that of +Chanzy, irretrievably routed after battling in a snowstorm of three days' +duration, cast into highways and byways, with thousands of barefooted +stragglers begging their bread, with hundreds of farmers bewailing their +crops, their cattle, and their ruined homesteads, with mothers +innumerable weeping for their sons, and fair girls in the heyday of their +youth lamenting the lads to whom their troth was plighted. And in that +'Retraite Infernale,' as one of its historians has called it, I saw want, +hunger, cupidity, cruelty, disease, stalking beside the war fiend; so no +wonder that, like Zola, I regard warfare as the greatest of abominations +that fall upon the world. I often regret that, short of actual war itself +and its disaster and misery, there should be no means of bringing the +whole horror of the thing home to those silly, arm-chair, jingo +journalists of many countries, our own included, who, viewing war simply +as a means of imposing the will of the stronger upon the weaker, and +losing sight of all that attends it, save martial pomp and individual +heroism, ever clamour for the exercise of force as soon as any difficulty +arises between two governments. + +Ties of affection, bonds of marriage, as well as long years of intimacy, +link me moreover to the French people; and more keenly, perhaps, than +even the master himself, did I realise what war between France and +England might mean; thus we both had an anxious time during the Fashoda +trouble. Fortunately for the general peace hostilities were averted, and +M. Zola was thus able to remain in his secluded English home, and to +continue the writing of his novel. + +The weather was still very fine, and now and again he ventured upon a +little excursion. The principal one was to Virginia Water, where he +strolled round the lake, then drove through part of the Great Park, and +thence on to Windsor Castle, where he saw all the sights, the State +apartments, St. George's Hall and Chapel, the Albert Memorial Chapel, and +so forth. And, as he had brought his hand camera with him, he was able to +take a few snapshots of what he saw. I was not present on that occasion; +his companions were a French gentleman, a very intimate friend, and my +daughter, but I was pleased to hear that he had, at all events, seen +Windsor. As a rule, it was extremely difficult to induce him to emerge +from his solitude. When he took a walk or a bicycle ride his destination +was simply some sleepy Surrey village or deserted common. + +He appreciated English scenery. Around Oatlands he had been much struck +by the beauty of the trees, and was greatly astonished to find such lofty +and perfect hedges of holly running at times for a mile almost without a +break on either side of the roads. I suppose that some of the finest +holly hedges in England are to be found in that district. Then, too, the +rookeries surprised and interested him. There was one he could see from +his window at the last half of his country residences, and many an idle +half-hour was spent by him in watching the flight of the birds or their +occasional parliaments. + +Nobody recognised him on his rambles. I even doubt if people, generally, +thought him a foreigner. He had long ceased to wear his rosette of the +Legion of Honour, and he had replaced his white billycock by an English +straw hat. Towards the close of the fine weather he purchased a 'bowler,' +which greatly altered his appearance. Indeed, there is nothing like a +'bowler' to make a foreigner look English. + +Wareham and I had now quite ceased to fear that any attempt would be made +to serve the Versailles judgment on M. Zola. We were only troubled by +gentlemen of the Press, both French and English, for since Esterhazy had +fled from France and the case for revision had been formally referred to +the Cour de Cassation, several newspapers had become desirous of +ascertaining M. Zola's views on the course of events. My instructions +remained, however, the same as formerly: I was to tell every applicant +that M. Zola declined to make any public statement, and that he would +receive nobody. I was occasionally inclined to fancy that some of those +who called on me imagined that these instructions were of my own +invention, and that I was simply keeping M. Zola _au secret_ for purposes +of my own. But nothing was further from the truth. + +Personally, at certain moments, when the revision proceedings began, when +M. Brisson fell from office, when M. Dupuy, listening to the clamour of a +pack of jackals, transferred the revision inquiry from the Criminal +Chamber to the entire Court of Cassation, I thought that it might really +be advisable for him to speak out. But, anxious though he was, disgusted, +indignant, too, at times, he would do nothing to add fuel to the flame. +Passions were roused to a high enough pitch already, and he had no desire +to inflame them more. + +Besides the cause was in very good hands; Clemenceau and Vaughan, Yves +Guyot and Reinach, Jaures and Gerault-Richard, Pressense, Cornely, and +scores of others were fighting admirably in the Press, and his +intervention was not required. Many a man circumstanced as M. Zola was +would have rushed into print for the mere sake of notoriety, but he +condemned himself to silence, stifling the words which rose from his +throbbing heart. And, after all, was not that course more worthy, more +dignified? + +Thus I could only return one answer to the newspaper men who wrote to me +or called at my house. Late in autumn there was an average of three +applications a week. One or two gentlemen, I believe, imagined that M. +Zola was staying very near me, and, failing to learn anything at my +place, they tried to question one or two tradesmen in the neighbourhood. +One of these, a grocer, became so irate at the frequent inquiries as to +whether a Frenchman, who wrote books and had a grey beard, and wore +glasses, was not staying in the vicinity, that he ended by receiving the +reporters with far more energy than politeness, not only ordering them +out of his shop at the double quick, but pursuing them with his +vituperative eloquence. 'Taking one consideration with another, a +reporter's lot, at times, is not a happy one.' + +A climax was reached when one gentleman, after communicating with M. Zola +by letter through various channels and receiving no answer from him, +ascertained my address and called there. As servants are not always to be +depended upon, we had made it virtually a rule at home that whenever a +stranger was seen at the front door my wife herself should, if possible, +answer it. And she did so in the instance I am referring to. + +Well, the gentleman first asked for me, and on learning that I was +absent, he explained that he was a friend, a private friend of M. Zola, +whom he wished to see on an important private matter. Could she, my wife, +oblige him with M. Zola's address? No, she could not; he had better +write, and his letter would be duly forwarded by me. Then the applicant +started on another story. It was no use his writing, he must see me. +Should I be at home on the morrow? The matter was of great importance, it +would mean a large sum of money for myself and so on. My wife had not +much confidence in what was told her, but she requested the visitor to +leave his name and address in order that I might make an appointment with +him, should I think such a course advisable. + +She was, at the moment, far more amazed and amused than indignant. She +bade the gentleman keep his money, and then showed him to the door. To me +that evening she did not mention the incident, and, indeed, I only heard +of it after I had taken the trouble to communicate with M. Zola +respecting the gentleman's urgent private business, which (so it turned +out) was purely and simply connected with journalism, my visitor having +acted on behalf of the owner of a well-known London newspaper. + +I do not know whether his principal had any knowledge of his impudent +attempt at bribery. For my own part I much regret that my wife (I suppose +in the interests of peace) should have kept it from me at that time as +she did, for the gentleman might otherwise have experienced, as he +deserved, a rather unpleasant ten minutes. + + + + XII + + THE FINAL RESTING-PLACE + +At last the time arrived when it became necessary to remove M. Zola from +his country quarters, and by his desire Wareham and I then looked around +us for a suitable suburban hotel. The autumn was now far spent and M. +Zola felt confident that he would be back in Paris by the end of the +year. Had he foreseen that his exile would prove so long, he would +certainly have sent for a couple of his French servants, and have set up +a quiet establishment in some other furnished house. But for another +month or two he considered that hotel accommodation would well suffice. + +The place selected for him by Wareham and myself was the Queen's Hotel, +Upper Norwood, and there he remained from late in the autumn of 1898 +until his departure from England. + +A glance at the Queen's Hotel shows one that it is composed of what were +once separate houses, now connected together by buildings of one storey +only. Each of these houses, or, as one may perhaps call them, pavilions, +has a separate entrance and staircase; and the advantage of this, to one +circumstanced as M. Zola was, must be obvious. A person lodging in one of +the pavilions can come and go freely. There is no vast hall to cross, +with a dozen servants standing around, ready to scrutinise you as you +pass in and out. You have your suite of rooms in one or another pavilion, +you take your meals there in your own dining-room, and you can shut +yourself off, as it were, from the greater part of the establishment and +enjoy privacy and quiet. This, no doubt, is the reason why so many +well-to-do people, who dislike the stir and bustle of the ordinary hotel, +patronise the hostelry at Upper Norwood. + +There at one time--when consulting Sir Morell Mackenzie, I +believe--stayed the unfortunate Emperor Frederick; and now it may add to +its list of patrons the most famous Frenchman of his day. + +It seemed to Wareham and me that the Queen's Hotel would, under the +circumstances, prove an ideal retreat for M. Zola. Moreover, Upper +Norwood stands on very high ground, and it was probable therefore that he +would largely escape the winter fogs. Of course the Crystal Palace was +comparatively near, but it was not very largely patronised in the winter, +and, besides, if M. Zola wished to escape a crowd, he had only to take +his walks in another direction. + +The Queen's Hotel stands back from the road; but, in the first instance, +as a precautionary measure it was thought best to select for M. Zola a +suite of rooms overlooking the extensive gardens. As time went on, +however, the trees lost their last leaves, the vista from these rooms, +charming enough in summer, became very cheerless. So the master's +quarters were shifted to a larger suite on the ground floor, with the +windows of the two communicating sitting-rooms overlooking both the road +and the garden. + +The two sitting-rooms were an advantage, particularly during the time +that Mme. Zola stayed at the Queen's Hotel (for she joined her husband on +and off), as he could devote one of them entirely to his work. But when +Mme. Zola finally left England (in a very ailing state, after a terrible +cold had kept her within doors for some weeks) her husband moved once +again, and installed himself on the second floor, where the rooms were +smaller and therefore easier to warm. It was then mid-winter. + +The various rooms M. Zola occupied and in which he spent from seven to +eight months--that is by far the greater portion of his exile--were all +part of the same house or pavilion, this being the last of the pavilions +constituting the hotel proper. Adjoining is a lower building, belonging +to the same proprietary as the hotel, but, in a measure, distinct from +it. Most of M. Zola's tenancy was spent in the topmost rooms. After +bringing the master up from the country, I took him one morning down to +Norwood, and he cordially approved of the arrangements which had been +made for him. There was only one thing amiss. Wareham and I had been +promised that he should have a waiter speaking French to attend on him; +and the one provided knew perhaps just a few words of that language. +However, he was very intelligent, very discreet, very willing to +oblige--a pattern waiter of the good old English school. And when I had +explained to him exactly what would be required, he took due note of +everything, and for many months the arrangements that were made worked +virtually without a hitch. + +If M. Zola's surroundings had altered, the routine of his life remained +the same as formerly. With regard to his novel 'Fecondite' he had, as the +saying goes, 'warmed to his work,' which he pursued at the Queen's Hotel +with unflagging energy. + +Knowing his habits I never (unless under exceptional circumstances) +visited him till he had finished his daily quantum of 'copy,' that was +about the luncheon hour. Then we would talk business, communicate to one +another such news as might be necessary, and at times exchange +impressions with regard to the incidents of the day. + +Among other matters often discussed were the English birth-rate and the +rearing of English children, points which deeply interested M. Zola, as +they were germane to the subject of 'Fecondite.' I could at first only +give him general information, but the Rev. R. Ussher, vicar of Westbury, +Bucks, the able author of 'Neo-Malthusianism,' very kindly sent me a copy +of his exhaustive work, which contained many particulars on the points +that principally interested M. Zola. Moreover, Mr. George P. Brett, the +President of the Macmillan Company of New York (M. Zola's American +publishers), supplied him with some interesting information respecting +the United States. + +With regard to England, M. Zola had been much struck by certain +proceedings instituted during his exile against medical men, midwives, +and others, proceedings which seemed to point to the existence in this +country of a state of affairs much akin to that prevailing in France. The +affair of the brothers Chrimes, who first sold bogus medicines and then +proceeded to blackmail the women who had purchased them, was, in Zola's +estimation, particularly significant, for here were hundreds and hundreds +of Englishwomen applying to those men for the means of accomplishing the +greatest crime against Nature there could be. + +On that point M. Zola spoke in no uncertain language. He understood well +enough that the authorities could not justly single out a few of those +hundreds of women for prosecution and punishment: but he censured the +women quite as much as he censured the convicted men, who were, after +all, but common scoundrels. + +And he was amazed to find that so few English newspapers ventured to +speak out on the matter. There were plenty of leaderettes on the cunning +shown by the men, but the alacrity of the women to purchase the bogus +medicines was, as a rule, lightly passed over; and great as is M. Zola's +admiration for the English Press in many respects, he could but regard +its attitude towards the Chrimes case as lamentably inadequate and +lacking in moral courage. + +'A great responsibility,' said he, 'rests with those who, possessing +commanding influence, refrain from requisite action, and who, instead of +seeking to cure proved and acknowledged evils, connive at driving them +beneath the surface, where, in secret, they steadily grow and expand.' +And all this for the sake of the 'young person,' to whose mythical +innocence the welfare of a whole nation is often sacrificed. M. Zola's +views are summed up in the words: 'Let all be exposed and discussed, in +order that all may be cured!' + +He regards Neo-Malthusianism and its practices as abominable, and when he +had learnt more of the actual situation in England he was emphatically of +opinion that his book 'Fecondite,' though applied to France alone, might +well, with little alteration, be applied to this country also. + +The fluctuations in the English birth-rate from 1872 to 1897 were to him +full of meaning. At a certain period, for instance, they showed all the +harm wrought by the abominable Bradlaugh-Besant campaign. But what he +dwelt on still more was the absolute physical incapacity of so many +English mothers to suckle their own offspring. Circumstances are much the +same both in France and the United States, at least among the older +Colonial families. In three or four generations the women of a family in +which the practice of suckling has ceased, are altogether unable to give +the breast; and the 'bottle' ensues, with its thousand evils and a +gradual deterioration of the race. + +On the last occasion when James Russell Lowell came to England he was +asked what change, if any, he remarked since his last visit, among the +people he met, and he replied that he was most struck by the falling off +in height, and breadth of shoulders, of the average man in the London +streets. + +Though matters have not yet reached such a point as in France and +elsewhere, it is I think incontestable that the English race, like many +another, is physically deteriorating. Athletics tend to improve the +standard, but there must be proper material to work upon, and M. Zola, I +found, held the view that for a race to be healthy its womenfolk should +be willing and able to discharge the primary duties of Nature. When he +discovered that so many Englishwomen would not or could not suckle their +babes, he remarked that England had started on the same downward course +as France. + +He often watched the troops of nursemaids and children whom he met during +his afternoon strolls. He noticed and told me how many of the former +neglected their charges, standing about, flirting or gossiping, or +looking into shop windows, while the baby in the bassinette or the +mail-cart sucked away at that vile invention the bone and gutta-percha +'soother,' and he was astonished that ladies should apparently consider +it beneath them to accompany baby on the promenade. Indeed the invariable +absence of the mothers gave him a rather bad opinion of them: for surely +they must know that many of the nurse-girls neglected the infants and yet +they exercised no supervision. 'Of course,' said he, 'they are visiting +or receiving, or reading novels, or bicycling or playing lawn tennis. Ah! +well, that is hardly my conception of a mother's duty towards her infant, +whatever be her station in life.' + +Now and again at intervals I accompanied him on his afternoon walks. +These generally took a semi-circular form. We descended from the plateau +of Upper Norwood on one side to climb to it again on another. Sometimes +we passed by way of Beulah Spa, then round by some fields and a +recreation ground, with the name of which I am not acquainted. There were +several shapely oak trees thereabouts, which he greatly admired and even +photographed. + +'Do you know,' he remarked to me one afternoon, 'when I come out all +alone for my usual constitutional, and want to shake off some worrying +thoughts, I often amuse myself by counting the number of hairpins which I +see lying on the foot-pavement. Oh! you need not laugh, it is very +curious, I assure you. I already had ideas for two essays--one on the +capital "I" in its relation to the English character, and another on the +physiology of the English "guillotine" window and the forms it affects, +not forgetting the circumstance that whenever an architect introduces a +French window into an English house, it invariably opens outwardly so as +to be well buffeted by the wind, instead of into the room as it should +do. Well, now I am beginning to think that I might write something on the +carelessness of Englishwomen in fastening up their hair, and the +phenomenal consumption of hairpins in England. For the consumption must +be enormous since the loss is so great, as I will show you.' + +Then he proceeded to ocular demonstration. As we walked on for half an +hour or so, principally along roads bordered by the umbrageous gardens of +villa residences, we counted all the hairpins we could see. There were +about four dozen. And he was careful to point out that we had chiefly +followed a route where there was but a moderate amount of traffic. + +Not one man in a thousand probably would have thought of counting the +lost hairpins in the streets; but then M. Zola is an observer, and if I +tell this anecdote, which some may think puerile, it is by way of +illustrating his powers of observation and the length to which he +occasionally carries them. + +On one point, I told him, he was rather in the wrong. The great loss of +hairpins did not proceed so much from the carelessness of women in +fastening their hair, as from their 'pennywise and pound-foolish' system +of buying cheap hairpins with few and inefficient 'twists.' These cheap +hairpins never 'caught' properly in their coiled-up tresses. The women +went out, walked rapidly, tossed their heads perchance, and one at least +of their hairpins fell to the ground. Supposing one hundred women passed +along a certain road or street in the course of the day, it would not be +surprising to find that at least thirty hairpins were lost there. And I +concluded by saying that, to the best of my belief, the aforesaid +hairpins were 'made in Germany.' + +Another thing which amused and interested M. Zola when he took his walks +around Norwood was to note the often curious and often high-sounding +names bestowed on villa residences. As a rule the smaller the place the +more grandiose the appellation bestowed on it. Some of the names M. Zola, +having now made progress with his English, could readily understand; +others, too, were virtually French, such as Bellevue, Beaumont, and so +forth; but there were several that I had to interpret, such as Oakdene, +Thornbrake, Beechcroft, Hillbrow, Woodcote, Fernside, Fairholme, +Inglenook, etc. And there was one name that I could not explain to him at +all--an awful name, which I fancied might be Gaelic or Celtic, though I +appealed in vain to Scottish, Irish, and Welsh friends for an +interpretation of its meaning. It was written thus: 'Ly-ee-Moon.' + +Nobody of my acquaintance was able to explain it to me. M. Zola wrote it +down in his memorandum-book as an abstruse puzzle. However, while this +narrative was appearing in the 'Evening News,' several correspondents +kindly informed me that Ly-ee-Moon (at times written 'Lai-Mun') was +Chinese, being the name of a narrow passage or strait between the island +of Hong-Kong and the mainland of China (now transferred to Great +Britain), at the eastern entrance to the harbour of the city of Victoria +on the island. + +It seems also that Ly-ee-Moon is a name often given to ships sailing in +the China seas. And in the case of the Norwood house, built by a retired +shipowner and sea captain, the name was taken from a vessel plying on the +Australian coast for many years, and ultimately wrecked with great loss +of life. The owner of the Norwood house had an engraving of the ship +executed on a plate-glass window of this hall. Until these explanations +reached me both M. Zola and myself were quite as much at sea (with regard +to 'Ly-ee-Moon') as ever its owner and captain was. + +When I spent an afternoon at Norwood with M. Zola we generally returned +to the hotel about half-past four for a cup of tea. And on the way back +(particularly during the last months) I frequently purchased postage +stamps for him at the chief post-office. He might, of course, have bought +them himself, and as a matter of fact he did at times do so. But he was +aware, I think, that he was regarded with some suspicion by the young +lady clerks under the control of the Duke of Norfolk. + +At certain periods, Christmas time and the New Year, for instance, M. +Zola's correspondence became extensive, and on the first occasion when he +entered the Upper Norwood post-office and asked for fifty 2 1_2 d. stamps +he was looked at with surprise. When, a couple of days later, he applied +for another fifty, the young ladies eyed him as if he were a genuine +curiosity. A hundred 2 1_2 d. stamps in four days! What could he do with +them? Nobody could tell. When, shortly afterwards, he returned for +another supply of the same kind, the Norwood post-office was convulsed. +And I doubt if even now some of the young ladies have quite got over that +brief but extraordinary run on the so-called 'foreign stamp.' + +I hope they do not imagine that M. Zola was hungry, and bought those +stamps to eat. + + + + XIII + + WINTER DAYS + +The winter was hardly a cold one, but it proved very tempestuous, and +Upper Norwood, standing high as it does, felt the full force of the +gales. Christmas found M. Zola alone; still, this did not particularly +affect him, as Christmas, save as a religious observance, is but little +kept up in France, where festivity and holiday-making are reserved for +the New Year. In M. Zola's rooms the only token of the season was a huge +branch of mistletoe hanging over the chimney-piece. This he had bought +himself, after I had told him of the privileges attached to mistletoe in +England. There were, however, no young ladies to kiss, and, if I remember +rightly, Mme. Zola, who had been absent in Paris, did not return to +Norwood until a day or two before the New Year. + +While her husband formed a fairly favourable opinion of England, its +customs and its climate, Mme. Zola, I fear, was scarcely pleased with +this country. At all events, she finally left it vowing that she would +never return. But then for three or four weeks bronchitis and kindred +ailments had kept her absolutely imprisoned in her room--her illness +lasting the longer, perhaps, because she was unwilling to place herself +in the hands of any medical man. + +The New Year was but a day or two old, when one of the London morning +newspapers announced with a great show of authority that an application +for the extradition of M. Zola was imminent. Somebody, moreover, informed +the same journal that he had recognised and interviewed M. Zola an +evening or two previously, to which statement was appended a brief +account of some of M. Zola's views. All this amazed me the more as on the +very day mentioned in the newspaper I had been with the master till nine +P.M. and I could hardly believe than anybody had interviewed him after +that hour. Moreover, my wife had since seen him, and he had said nothing +to her of any visit or interview. Nevertheless, as other papers proceeded +to copy the statements to which I have referred, I thought it well to +communicate with our exile on the subject. + +Through the carelessness of one of M. Zola's friends, Wareham's name and +address had lately been given to an English journalist usually resident +in Paris, and this journalist had then come to London to try to discover +the master's whereabouts. It was therefore possible that there might be +some truth in the story. But M. Zola promptly wired to me that such was +not the case, and followed up his telegram with a note in which he said: + + +'My dear confrere and friend,--I have just telegraphed to you that the +whole story of a journalist having interviewed me is purely and simply a +falsehood. I have seen nobody. Again, there can be no question of +extradition in my case; all that could be done would be to serve me with +the judgment of the Assize Court. Those people don't even know what they +write about. + +'As for -----'s indiscretion, this is to be regretted. I am writing to +him. For the sake of our communications, I have always desired that +Wareham's name and address should be known only to those on whom one can +depend. Tell him that he must remain on his guard and _never_ acknowledge +that he knows my address. Persevere in that course yourself. I will wait +a few days to see if anything occurs before deciding whether the +correspondence arrangements should be altered. It would be a big affair; +and I should afterwards regret a change if it were to prove uncalled for. +Let us wait.' + + +Going through the many memoranda and notes I received from M. Zola during +his exile, I also find this, dated February: 'You did right to refuse Mr. +----- my address. I absolutely decline to see anybody. No matter who may +call on you, under whatever pretext it be, preserve the silence of the +tomb. Less than ever am I disposed to let people disturb me.' + +Again, a little later: 'No; I will see neither the gentleman nor the +lady. Tell them so distinctly, in order that they may worry you no more.' + +With the New Year, it will be remembered, had come a succession of +startling events which kept M. Zola in a state of acute anxiety. The +violent attacks of the anti-Revisionists on the Criminal Chamber of the +Cour de Cassation culminated in the resignation of Q. de Beaurepaire, in +an inquiry into the Criminal Chamber's methods of investigation, and +finally in the passing of a law which transferred the task of the +Criminal Chamber to the whole of the Supreme Court. On the many intrigues +of that period I often conversed with M. Zola, who was particularly +angered by the blind opposition of President Faure and the impudent +duplicity of Prime Minister Dupuy. These two were undoubtedly doing their +utmost to impede the course of justice. + +Then suddenly, on February 17, came a thunderbolt. Faure had died on the +previous evening, and by his death one of the greatest obstacles to the +triumph of truth was for ever removed. We talked of the defunct president +at some length, M. Zola adhering to the opinions that he had expressed +during the summer. + +But the great question was who would succeed M. Faure. When M. Brisson +had fallen from office after initiating the Revision proceedings, M. Zola +had said to me: 'Brisson's present fall does not signify; it was bound to +come. But hereafter he will reap his reward for his courage in favouring +revision. Brisson will be Faure's successor as President of the +Republic.' + +In expressing this opinion M. Zola had imagined that Faure would live to +complete his full term of office. His death in the very midst of the +battle entirely changed the position. M. Brisson's time had not come, and +considering his age it indeed now seemed as if he might never attain to +the supreme magistracy. The future looked blank; but M. Loubet was +elected President, and a feeling of great relief followed. + +I have reason to believe that M. Zola regards the death of President +Faure as the crucial turning-point in the whole Dreyfus business. Had +Faure lived every means would still have been employed to shield the +guilty; all the influence of the Elysee would, as before, have been +brought to bear against the unhappy prisoner of Devil's Island. + +During those January and February days M. Zola was an eager reader of the +newspapers. Rumours of all kinds were in circulation, and once again in +M. Zola's mind did despondency alternate with hopefulness. I must say, +however, that he was not particularly impressed by Paul Deroulede's +attempt to induce General Roget to march on the Elysee. He regards +Deroulede as a scarcely sane individual, and holds views on Parisian +demonstrations which may surprise some of those who believe everything +they read in the newspapers. + +These views may be epitomised as follows: The Government can always put +down trouble in the streets when it desires to do so. If trouble occurs +it is because the Government allows it. Three-fourths of the +'demonstrations' that have taken place in Paris during the last year or +two have been simply 'got up' by professional agitators. The men who +start the shouting and the marching are paid for their services, the +tariff being as a rule two francs per demonstration. With 500 francs, +that is 20 l., one can get 250 men together. These are joined by as many +fools and a small contingent of enthusiasts, and then you have a rumpus +on the boulevards, and half the newspapers in Europe announcing on the +morrow: 'Serious Disturbances in Paris. Impending Revolution.' Some +people may ask, Where does the money for many of these demonstrations +come from? The answer is that it comes largely from much the same sources +as those whence General Boulanger's funds were derived--that is, from the +Orleanist party. + +As for military insubordination, plotting, or anything of that kind, M. +Zola often pointed out to me that no general could effect a revolution, +for the simple reason that he could not rely on his men to follow him in +an illegal attempt. It was quite possible that now and again other +generals besides Boulanger had dreamt of overturning the Republic, but +they had not the means to do so. It was as likely as not that the officer +foolhardy enough to make the attempt would be shot in the back by some of +the Socialists among the rank and file. Boulanger no doubt could have +counted on a good many men and 'non-coms.,' as he was popular with them, +but few if any officers above the rank of captain would have followed +him. + +To-day, moreover, intense jealousy still reigns among the French general +officers. There is not one among them of sufficient pre-eminence and +popularity to gather round him a large contingent of military men of high +rank for any political purpose. And this, of course--quite apart from the +opinions of the masses--largely makes for a continuance of the Republican +regime. + +With a weak Government in office, one with a policy of drift, everything +may become possible; but, so long as foresight and vigilance are shown, +the Republic remains impregnable. If military malcontents become +obstreperous it is only necessary to treat them as General Boulanger was +treated. + +I recollect hearing M. Yves Guyot, who was a member of the Cabinet which +put down 'the brave general on the black horse,' and who was also one of +the few French friends who visited M. Zola during his exile, give a brief +account of some of the decisive steps which were taken to stop the +Boulangist agitation. The Prefect of Police of that time was summoned to +the Ministry of the Interior, where two or three members of the +Government awaited his arrival. Amongst other orders given him was one +(if I remember rightly) for the dissolution of M. Deroulede's 'League of +Patriots,' which then, as more recently, was at the bottom of much of the +agitation. + +The Prefect hesitated; he was afraid to execute his orders. 'Very well, +then,' said M. Constans, M. Guyot, and others, 'you may regard your +resignation as accepted; you are not the man for the situation; if you +are afraid, there are plenty who are not; and we shall immediately +replace you.' + +The threat of the loss of office wrought an immediate change in the +Prefect. He became as brave as he had been timorous, and with all due +energy he proceeded to carry out his instructions. Boulangism was crushed +and held up to public opprobrium and ridicule; and but for the culpable +weakness and connivance of M. Felix Faure and his favourite Prime +Minister, M. Meline, it would never have revived in its varied forms of +anti-Semitism, anti-Dreyfusism, etc. + +French functionaries, those of the Civil Service, are, as a rule, a +docile set; but every now and again a Government finding some laxity +among prefects and sub-prefects makes a few examples. Three or four +prefects of departments are transferred in disgrace to less important +towns; two or three are cashiered, and the same method is followed with +some of the sub-prefects. Thereupon, all the others, prefects and 'subs,' +throughout the eighty and odd departments of France, hasten to show +themselves vigilant and, if need be, energetic. Taking one consideration +with another, this system of frightening the prefects into obedience and +vigilance has, so far as the maintenance of public order is concerned, +answered admirably well whenever it has been applied during the last +fifty years. It has undoubtedly been adopted at times for the furtherance +of purely despotic or arbitrary aims; but if ever it was justified such +was the case during the Dreyfus agitation. If the Government had not +connived, for purposes of its own, at the proceedings of what the French +call the 'militarist' party, there would have been no turmoil at all. + +But those in power desired to shield culprits of high rank and to defend +the effete organisation of the French War-office. And those who thus +misused the power they held, who sacrificed the national interests, who +trampled truth and justice under foot, and rendered their country an +object of amazement, distrust, and ridicule throughout the length and +breadth of Europe (Russia not excepted) will be censured and condemned in +no uncertain voice by the France of to-morrow. + +But I am forgetting the prefects and sub-prefects. I mentioned them +partly because M. Zola himself might have been one of them. It is not +generally known, I believe, that at the time of the Franco-German war he +in some degree assisted one of the sub-prefects in the discharge of his +duties, and (had he only so chosen) might even have become a sub-prefect +himself. He had been an opposition, a Republican journalist, before the +fall of the Empire, and M. Gambetta, during his virtual dictatorship +throughout the latter part of the Franco-German war, was very fond of +appointing journalists of that description to office, both in the army +and the Civil Service. M. Zola, then, might have become a sub-prefect to +begin with; and, later, a full-blown prefect. Picture him in a cocked hat +and a uniform bedizened with gold lace, and with a slender sword dangling +by his side. That, at all events, was how sub-prefects and prefects used +to array themselves when 'in the exercise of their functions.' + +I doubt of M. Zola would ever have made a good functionary. His character +is too independent, and in all likelihood he would have resigned the very +first time that he happened to have 'a few words' with his Minister. But +politics having caught him in their grasp he would doubtless (like the +few functionaries of independent views who throw up their posts in +France) have next come forward as a candidate for the Chamber or the +Senate. And then--why not? He might have been an Under-Secretary of +State, later a Minister, and finally President of the Republic. True, as +he himself knows, and readily admits, he is no orator; but then orators +are not always the men who get on in France. Thiers was a ready and +fluent speaker, but MacMahon could scarcely say (or learn by heart) +twenty consecutive words. Grevy, it is true, could be long-winded, prosy, +and didactic; but the powers of elocution which Carnot and Felix Faure +possessed were infinitesimal. And so the idea of Emile Zola, President of +the Republic, may not be so far-fetched after all, particularly when one +remembers Zola's great powers of observation, analysis, and foresight. + +Had he taken to politics in his younger days he would at least have made +his mark in the career thus chosen. And it may be that, in some respects, +French public life might then have been healthier than it has proved +during the last quarter of a century. Perchance, too, on the other hand, +many old maids and young persons, not to mention ecclesiastics and +vigilance societies, would have been spared manifold pious ejaculations +and gasps of horror. Again, my poor father--imprisoned, ruined, and +hounded to his death--might still have been alive. + +Unless some other courageous man had arisen to tear the veil away from +before human life, such as it is in so-called civilised communities, and +show society its own self in all its rottenness, foulness, and +hypocrisy--so that on more than one occasion, shrinking guiltily from its +own image, it has denounced the plain unvarnished truth as libel--there +would have been no 'Nana' and no 'Pot Bouille,' no 'Assommoir,' and no +'Germinal.' And no 'La Terre.' 'La Debacle,' and 'Lourdes,' and 'Rome,' +'Paris,' and 'Fecondite,' and all the other books that have flowed from +Emile Zola's busy pen would have remained unwritten. But for my own part +I would rather that the world should possess those books than that Zola +when tempted, as he was, should have cast literature aside to plunge into +the abominable and degrading vortex of politics. + +Like all men of intellect he certainly has his views on important +political questions, and again and again he has enunciated them in the +face of fierce opposition. In the Dreyfus case, however, he has been no +politician, but simply the indignant champion of an innocent man. And his +task over, truth and justice vindicated, he asks no reward, no office; he +simply desires to take up his pen once more and revert to his life +work:--The delineation and exposure of the crimes, follies, and +short-comings of society as now constituted, in order that those who +_are_ in politics, who control human affairs, may, in full knowledge of +existing evils, do their utmost to remedy them and prepare the way for a +better and a happier world. + + + + XIV + + 'WAITING FOR THE VERDICT' + +I can still see before me the sitting-room on the second floor of the +Queen's Hotel, in which M. Zola spent so much of his time and wrote so +many pages of 'Fecondite' during the last six months or so of his exile. +A spacious room it was, if a rather low one, with three windows +overlooking the road which passes the hotel. + +A very large looking-glass in a gilt frame surmounted the mantelpiece, on +which stood two or three little blue vases. Paper of a light colour and a +large flowing arabesque pattern with a broad frieze covered the walls. +There was not a single picture of any kind in the room, neither steel +engraving, nor lithograph, nor chromo; and remembering what pictures +usually are, even in the best of hotels, it was perhaps just as well that +there should have been none in that room at the Queen's. Yet during the +many hours I spent there the bareness of the walls often worried me. + +Against the one that faced the fireplace stood a small sideboard. Then on +another side was a sofa, and here and there were half a dozen chairs. The +room was rich in tables, it counted no fewer than five. On a folding +card-table in one corner M. Zola's stock of letter and 'copy' paper, his +weighing scales for letters, his envelopes, pens, and pencils, were duly +set out. Then in front of the central window was the table at which he +worked every morning. It was of mahogany, little more than three feet +long and barely two feet wide. Whenever he raised his eyes from his +writing, he could see the road below him, and the houses across the way. +On a similar table at another of the windows he usually kept such books +and reviews as reached him from France. + +In the centre of the room, under the electric lights--which, however, +were only fitted towards the end of M. Zola's sojourn at the hotel, so +that throughout the winter a paraffin lamp supplied the necessary +illumination--stood the table at which one lunched and dined. It was +round and would just accommodate four persons. Finally, beside M. Zola's +favourite arm-chair, near the fireplace, was a little gipsy table, on +which he usually kept the day's newspapers, and perchance the volume he +was reading at the time. + +A doorway on the same side as the fireplace gave ingress to the +bedchamber, which was smaller than the sitting-room, and adequately, but +by no means luxuriously furnished. + +On the little writing-table near the middle window were first a small +inkstand belonging to the hotel, then a few paper-weights covering +memoranda jotted down on little square pieces of paper, about three +inches long either way, together with an old yellowish newspaper which +did duty as a blotting pad; and a pen with a 'j' nib and a very heavy +ivory handle, so heavy, indeed, that though the master often offered it +to me I could never write with it. With this pen, however, he himself did +all his work. That work he generally cleared away before lunch, and +locked up in his bedroom wardrobe, so that by the time a visitor arrived +there was never any litter in the sitting-room. + +The road, viewed from the writing-table window, was at times fairly +lively. Nursemaids and children, bicyclists and others passed constantly +to and fro. Stylish carriages also rolled by during the afternoon, and at +intervals a little green omnibus went its way at a slow jog-trot. The +detached villa residences on the other side of the road were, however, +singularly lifeless. One day M. Zola remarked to me: 'I have never seen a +soul in those houses during all the months I have been here. They are +occupied certainly, for the window blinds are pulled up every morning and +lowered every evening, but I can never detect who does this; and I have +never seen anybody leave the houses or enter them.' + +At last one afternoon he told me that one of these villas had woke up, +for on the previous day he had espied a lady in the garden watering some +flowers. + +Rather lower down the road there was a livelier house, one which had a +balconied window, which was almost invariably open, and here servants and +children were often to be seen. 'That,' said M. Zola, 'is the one little +corner of life and gaiety, amidst all the other silence and lack of life. +Whenever I feel dull or worried I look over there.' + +As a rule the Queen's Hotel itself is, as I have already mentioned, a +very quiet place; but now and again a wedding breakfast was given there. +Broughams and landaus would then roll over the gravel sweep, and M. Zola +and I would at times lean out of the windows and exchange opinions with +respect to the bridal pair and the guests. What surprised and amused him, +on one occasion when a wedding party came to the hotel, was to notice +that all the coachmen of the carriages wore yellow flowers and favours; +for in France yellow is not only associated with jealousy, but also with +conjugal faithlessness. + +'If those flowers ware to be taken as an omen,' said M. Zola to me, 'that +happy pair will soon be in the Divorce Court.' + +During the latter part of his stay at Norwood, when the door between his +bedroom and sitting-room remained open, one could see on a chest of +drawers in the former apartment a pair of life-size porcelain cats, +coloured a purplish maroon, with sparkling yellow glass eyes, and an +abundance of fantastic yellow spots. These cats had been bought by him as +a souvenir of England and English art, for he was much struck by their +oddity. He had been offered others--for instance, white ones with little +coloured landscapes printed all over their backs and sides--surely as +idiotic an embellishment as any insane potter could devise--but although +these had sorely tempted him he had finally decided in favour of the +maroon and yellow abominations. + +A little girl of mine, who found herself face to face with these cats one +day in his room, was quite startled by them, and has since expressed the +opinion that Sir John Tenniel ought to have seen them before he drew the +Cheshire cat for 'Alice in Wonderland.' For my own part I can imagine the +laughter and the jeers of M. Zola's artistic friends when those choice +specimens of British art are shown to them in Paris. + +At intervals during his long sojourn at the Queen's Hotel M. Zola +received a few brief visits from French friends, chiefly literary men and +politicians, whose names need not be mentioned, but who have identified +themselves with the cause of Revision. At times these gentlemen found +themselves in London on other matters, and profited by the opportunity to +run down to Norwood. On other occasions they made the journey from France +for the especial purpose of quieting M. Zola's impatience, and telling +him that he must not yet think of returning home. Again, M. Fasquelle, +the French publisher, came over four or five times, now on business and +now in a friendly way. + +I think that during the seven or eight months that M. Zola stayed at the +Queen's Hotel, he received altogether some ten visits from compatriots, +which visits were often of only an hour or two's duration. Thus, Mme. +Zola having returned to France, he was frequently very much alone. + +During the last months of his exile my wife fell seriously ill, and I +could not then go so often to Norwood. Afterwards ague caught me in its +grip, and my visits ceased for two or three successive weeks. All I could +do in an emergency was to place my eldest daughter or my son at M. Zola's +disposal. + +The foreign visitors he received--by foreign I mean non-French--were +(apart from the Warehams, myself and family) very few in number. I think +that an eminent Russian _publiciste_ who happened to be a personal friend +(M. Zola has long been popular in Russia, where even the Emperor has read +many of his books) saw him on one occasion. Then, when M. Yves Guyot +called, he brought with him an English friend who was pledged to secrecy. + +A well-known English novelist and art critic, M. Zola's oldest English +friend, and his earliest champion in this country, likewise saw him. +Further, in a friendly capacity he received an English journalist for +whom he has much regard, and who came to see him quite apart from any +journalistic matters. To this list I will add the names of Mr. Andrew +Chatto and Mr. Percy Spalding of Messrs. Chatto and Windus, and Mr. +George P. Brett, of the Macmillan Company of New York. + +Such, then, were M. Zola's visitors and guests--say, apart from the +Warehams, myself and family, less than a score of persons, the total +duration of whose visits added together amounted perhaps to a hundred and +twenty hours spread over many long and trying months. + +At times when we chatted together, M. Zola and myself, and mention was +made of his friends--of persons occasionally whom we both knew--he +referred to the many estrangements caused by the divergence of views on +the Dreyfus affair. Friends of twenty and thirty years' standing, men who +had laboured sided by side often in pursuit of the same ideal, had not +only quarrelled and parted but had assailed each other with the greatest +virulence in the Press and at public meetings. + +Many whom he himself had regarded as close and sincere friends had +trodden upon all the past and attacked him abominably, as though he were +the veriest scum of the earth. Some in the earlier stages of the affair +had hypocritically feigned sympathy, in order to provoke his confidence, +and had then turned round to hold him up to execration and ridicule. One +or two had behaved so badly that he had refused ever to receive them at +his house again. + +He spoke to me of an eminent French _litterateur_ who at the outset of +the agitation on behalf of Dreyfus had immediately promised his help, and +had even prepared articles and appeals on behalf of the prisoner of +Devil's Island. But this _litterateur_ had of recent years been lapsing +into mysticism, and at the behests of the reverend father his confessor, +he had abruptly destroyed what he had written, and gone over to the other +side to wage desperate warfare upon the cause he had promised to help. + +The writer in question (one who will probably leave a name in French +literature) was tortured by the everlasting fear that he might go to hell +when he died, and he was the more timorous, the more easily influenced by +certain persons, as he suffered from a horrible, incurable complaint, and +feared that his medical man--a bigoted Romanist--might abandon him to all +the pangs of sudden death if he did not comply with the injunctions of +the Church. + +Then there was a friend of many years' standing, a Minister in successive +Cabinets, who feigned that by remaining in office he would be able to +favour the cause, and who, instead of that, did his utmost against it. A +playwright wrote: 'I am heartily with you, but for God's sake don't say +it, for my plays might be hissed.'* Another prominent man started on a +long journey to avoid having to express any opinion. Nearly all the baser +passions of humanity were made manifest in some degree--treachery, +rancour, jealousy, and moral and physical cowardice. + + * Apropos of the stage, it is a curious circumstance that + nine-tenths of 'the profession' in France are ardent Dreyfusards. + Nearly every actor and actress and vocalist of note has been + on the same side as M. Zola from the outset. + +But, of course, there was another and a brighter side to the picture. +There were men of high intellect and courage who had not hesitated to +state their views and plead for truth and justice, men who, when in +office, had been arbitrarily suspended and removed. There were many who +had risked their futures, many too who, after years of labour, were well +entitled to rest and retirement, yet had come forward with all the ardour +of youth to do battle for great principles and save their country from +the shame of a cruel crime. + +Adversity makes one acquainted with strange bedfellows, and M. Zola was +more than once struck by the heterogeneous nature of the Revisionist +army. He found men of such varied political and social views banded +together for the cause. It all helped to remove sundry old-time +prejudices of his. + +For instance, he said to me one day: 'I never cared much for the French +Protestants; I regarded them as people of narrow minds, fanatics of a +kind, far less tolerant and human than the great mass of the Catholics. +But they have behaved splendidly in this battle of ours, and shown +themselves to be real men.' + +All through the spring M. Zola eagerly followed the inquiry which the +Cour de Cassation was conducting, and when M. Ballot-Beaupre was +appointed reporter to the Court, there came a fresh spell of anxiety. M. +Ballot-Beaupre is a man of natural piety, and the anti-Revisionist +newspapers, basing themselves on his religious views, at first made +certain that he would show no mercy to the Jew Dreyfus, but would report +strongly in favour of the prisoner's guilt. Certain Dreyfusite journals, +on the other hand, bitterly attacked the learned judge for his supposed +clerical leanings; and indeed so much was insinuated that M. Zola for a +short time half believed it possible that M. Ballot-Beaupre might show +himself hostile to revision. + +When I saw M. Zola he repeatedly expressed to me his feelings of +disquietude. Then everything suddenly changed. Certain newspapers +discovered that M. Ballot-Beaupre, if pious, was by no means a fanatic, +and, further, that he was a very sound lawyer, much respected by his +colleagues. This cleared the atmosphere, for it seemed impossible that +any man of rectitude and judgment could pass over the damning revelations +which the Cour de Cassation's inquiry, as published in 'Le Figaro,' had +produced. + +Time went on, and at last the issue, so frequently postponed, so +longingly awaited, came in sight. The week before the public proceedings +of the Cour de Cassation opened M. Zola said to me: 'I shall have +finished the last chapter of "Fecondite" by Saturday or Sunday, so I +shall have my hands quite free and be able to give all my attention to +what takes place at the Courts. I am hopeful, yes, very hopeful, and yet +at moments some horrid doubt will spring up to torture me. But no! you'll +see, our cause will gain the day, revision will be granted, and justice +will be done.' + +And at last came the fateful week which was to prove the accuracy of his +surmises. + + + + XV + + LAST DAYS--DEPARTURE + +I spent the afternoon of Saturday, May 27, with M. Zola, and we then +spoke of the proceedings impending before the Cour de Cassation. All our +information pointed to the conclusion that the Court would give judgment +on the Saturday following, and it was decided that M. Zola should return +to France a few days afterwards. The date ultimately agreed upon was +Tuesday, June 6, and the train selected was that leaving Charing Cross +for Folkestone at 2.45 in the afternoon. + +Though according to every probability the Court's judgment would be in +favour of revision, M. Zola was resolved to return home whatever might be +the issue, and such were his feelings on the matter that nothing any +friend might have urged would have prevented him from doing so. As a +matter of fact one friend did regard the return as somewhat unwise, and +intimated it both by telegram and letter. This compelled me to see M. +Zola again on the following Tuesday (May 30), but the objections were +overruled by him, and the arrangements which had been planned were +adhered to. + +M. Zola had now drafted the declaration which he proposed issuing on the +morrow of his return home, and this he gave me to read. It was the +article 'Justice,' published in 'L'Aurore,' to which I have occasionally +referred in the course of the present narrative. + +I left M. Zola rather late that Tuesday night in the expectation that +everything which had been arranged would follow in due course. As the +writing of 'Fecondite' was now finished he had time on his hands, and a +part of this he proposed to devote to taking a few final snapshots of +Norwood, the Crystal Palace, and surrounding scenery. He needed something +to do, for he could not sit hour by hour in his room at the Queen's Hotel +anxiously waiting for news of the proceedings at the Paris Palais de +Justice. + +For my part I had begun to prepare the present narrative, and as he would +not listen to my repeated offers to take him to the Derby, it was +arranged that I should not see him again until the end of the week. On +Friday, however, reports were already in circulation to the effect that +M. Fasquelle (M. Zola's French publisher) had come to London for the +purpose of escorting him home. + +This was true, and I foresaw that the rumours might lead to some +modifications of our programme; for M. Zola did not wish his return to +have any public character. He had forbidden all the demonstrations which +his friends in Paris were anxious to arrange in his honour, declaring +that he desired to go back quietly and privately, and then at once place +himself at the disposal of the public prosecutor. + +On Friday I sent my daughter Violette to Norwood with a parcel of M. +Zola's photographs, received by Messrs. Chatto and Windus from Miss Loie +Fuller, who being greatly interested in the Clarence Ward of St. Mary's +Hospital, particularly wished M. Zola to sign these portraits in order +that they might be sold at a bazaar which was to be held for the benefit +of the hospital referred to. I told my daughter that I should myself go +down to the Queen's Hotel on the morrow, and she brought me back a +message to the effect that I really must go, as complications had arisen, +and M. Zola particularly desired to see me. + +On the following day, Saturday, I therefore betook myself to Norwood with +a parcel of M. Zola's books, which I had received from Messrs. Macmillan +& Co. on behalf of the Countess of Bective, who (prompted by the same +spirit as Miss Loie Fuller) wished to sell these volumes at the +'Bookland' stall on the occasion of the Charing Cross Hospital Bazaar. +And when I arrived I found indeed that it was most desirable that the +programme of M. Zola's departure should be modified. + +He had already seen M. and Mme. Fasquelle, the former of whom was much +annoyed at the reports of his presence in London, and thought it most +advisable to precipitate the departure. Delay might, indeed, be harmful +if it was desired to avoid demonstrations. Besides, why should he wait +until the ensuing Tuesday? Why not return the very next night--that of +Sunday, June 4--by the Dover and Calais route? Mme. Fasquelle had +declared that she in no way objected to travelling at night time; and so +far as the departure from London was concerned, there would be few people +about on a Sunday evening, which was another point to be considered. I +cordially assented, for now that the imminence of M. Zola's return to +Paris had been reported in the newspapers it was certain that delay meant +a possibility of demonstrations both for and against him. In spite of his +prohibition, many of his friends still wished to greet him like a +conquering hero on his arrival at the Northern Railway Station in Paris. +And the other side would unfailingly send out its recruiting agents to +assemble a contingent of loafers at two francs per demonstration, who +would be duly instructed to yell 'Conspuez,' and 'A bas les juifs.' Then +a brawl would inevitably follow. + +Now M. Zola (as I have already mentioned) did not wish for a homecoming +of that kind. There was no question of refusing to 'face the music,' of +shunning a hostile crowd, and so forth. It was purely and simply a matter +of dignity and of doing nothing that might lead to a disturbance of the +public peace. The triumph of justice was undoubtedly imminent, and it +must not be followed by disorder. + +When I had expressed my concurrence in the views held by M. Zola and M. +Fasquelle, M. Zola and I attended to business. First came the question of +Lady Bective's books, in each of which a suitable inscription was +inserted. Afterwards, in a friend's birthday book M. Zola inscribed his +famous, epoch-making phrase, 'Truth is on the march, and nothing will be +able to stop it.' Finally, a few brief notes were written and posted, and +work was over. + +For a little while we chatted together. Some notable incidents connected +with the interminable Affair had occurred during the last few days. +Colonel du Paty de Clam, for whose arrest the Revisionist journals had +clamoured so long and so pertinaciously, had at last been cast into +prison. In M. Zola's estimation, the Colonel's arrest had been merely a +question of time ever since the day when one had learnt that he had +disguised himself with a false beard and blue glasses when he went to +meet the notorious Esterhazy. + +'A man may be guilty of any misdeed and may yet find forgiveness and even +favour,' M. Zola had then said to me, 'but he must not make himself, his +profession, and his cause ridiculous. In France, as you know, "ridicule +kills." The false beard and the blue spectacles, following the veiled +lady, are decisive. One need scarcely trouble any further about M. du +Paty de Clam. His fate is as good as sealed.' + +And now that the Colonel had at last been arrested, the master remarked, +'The military party is throwing him over to us as a kind of sop; it would +be delighted to make him the general scapegoat, and thereby save all the +other culprits. But it won't do. There are men higher placed than Du Paty +who must bear their share of censure and, if need be, punishment.' + +Then we spoke of Esterhazy, 'that fine type for a melodrama or a novel of +the romantic school,' as M. Zola often remarked. The Commandant had just +acknowledged to the 'Times' and the 'Daily Chronicle' that the famous +_bordereau_ had been penned by him, and we laughed at the remembrance of +his squabbles on this subject with the proprietress of another newspaper. +How indignantly he had then denied having ever acknowledged the +authorship of the _bordereau_, and how complacently he now admitted it! +As for the circumstances under which he asserted the document to have +been written, M. Zola could make nothing of them. 'So far, the +explanations explain nothing,' said he; 'take them whichever way you +will, there is no sense, no plausibility even, in them. Hitherto I always +thought Esterhazy a very shrewd and clever man, but after reading his +statements in the "Times" and the "Chronicle" I no longer know what to +think. Still, one point is gained; he admits having written the +_bordereau_, and others hereafter will tell us the exact circumstances +under which he did so. Colonel Sandherr, at whose bidding he says he +wrote it, is dead; but others who know a great deal about him are still +alive.' + +While M. Zola thus expressed himself, we sat face to face, he in his +favourite arm chair on one side of the fireplace, and I on the other, in +the familiar room, with its three windows overlooking the lively road, +while all around curvetted the scrolls and arabesques of the light +fawn-tinted wall paper. And after chatting about Du Paty and Esterhazy we +gradually lapsed into silence. It was a fateful hour. There were +ninety-nine probabilities out of a hundred that the decision of the Cour +de Cassation would be given that same afternoon; and whatever that +decision might be we felt certain that before it was made public by any +newspaper in London we should be apprised of it. We knew that five +minutes after judgment should have been pronounced a telegram would be +speeding through the wires to the Queen's Hotel, Norwood. + +M. Zola did not tell me his thoughts, yet I could guess them. We can +generally guess the thoughts of those we love. But the hours went by and +nothing came. How long they were, those judges! Whatever could be the +cause of their delay? Surely--trained, practised men that they were, men +who had spent their lives in seeking and proclaiming the truth--surely no +element of doubt could have penetrated their minds at the final, the +supreme moment. + +Ah! the waiter entered, and there on his salver lay a buff envelope, +within which must surely be the ardently awaited message that would tell +us of victory or defeat. M. Zola could scarcely tear that envelope open; +his hands trembled violently. And then came an anti-climax. The wire was +from M. Fasquelle, who announced that he and his wife were inviting +themselves to dinner at Norwood that evening. + +It was welcome news, but not the news so impatiently expected. And, at +last, suspense become intolerable, I resolved to go out and try to +purchase some afternoon newspapers. + +There had been rumours to the effect that as each individual judge might +preface his decision by a declaration of the reasons which prompted it, +the final judgment might after all be postponed until Monday. Both M. +Zola and I had thought this improbable; still, there was a possibility of +such delay, and perhaps it was on account of a postponement of the kind +that the telegram we awaited had not arrived. + +I scoured Upper Norwood for afternoon papers. There was, however, nothing +to the point at that hour (about five P.M.) in 'The Evening News,' the +'Globe,' the 'Echo,' the 'Star,' the 'Sun,' the three 'Gazettes.' They, +like we, were 'waiting for the verdict.' I went as far as the lower level +station in the hope of finding some newspaper that might give an inkling +of the position, and I found nothing at all. It was extremely warm, and I +was somewhat excited. Thus I was perspiring terribly by the time I +returned to the hotel, to learn that no telegram had come as yet, that +things were still _in statu quo_. + +Then all at once the waiter came up again with another buff envelope +lying on his plated salver. And this time our anticipations were +realised; here at last was the expected news. M. Zola read the telegram, +then showed it to me. + +It was brief, but sufficient. 'Cheque postponed,' it said; and Zola knew +what those words meant. 'Cheque paid' would have signified that not only +had revision been granted, but that all the proceedings against Dreyfus +were quashed, and that he would not even have to be re-tried by another +court-martial. And in a like way 'cheque unpaid' would have meant that +revision had been refused by the Court. 'Cheque postponed' implied the +granting of revision and a new court-martial. + +The phraseology of this telegram, as of previous ones, had long since +been arranged. For months many seemingly innocent 'wires' had been full +of meaning. There had been no more enigmatical telegrams, as at the time +of Henry's arrest and death, but telegrams drafted in accordance with M. +Zola's instructions and each word of which was perfectly intelligible to +him. + +It often happened that the newspaper correspondents 'were not in it.' +Things were known to M. Zola and at times to myself hours--and even +days--before there was any mention of them in print. The blundering +anti-Dreyfusites have often if not invariably overlooked the fact that +their adversaries number men of acumen, skill, and energy. Far from it +being true that money has played any role in the affair, everything has +virtually been achieved by brains and courage. In fact, from first to +last, the Revisionist agitation, whilst proving that the Truth must +always ultimately conquer, has likewise shown the supremacy of true +intellect over every other force in the world, whether wealth, or +influence, or fanaticism. + +But I must return to M. Zola. He now knew all he wished to know. As there +had been no postponement of the Court's decision there need be none of +his return. A telegram to Paris announcing his departure from London was +hastily drafted and I hurried with it to the post-office, meeting on my +way M. and Mme. Fasquelle, who were walking towards the Queen's Hotel. + +We had a right merry little dinner that evening. We were all in the best +of humours. M. Zola's face was radiant. A great victory had been won; and +then, too, he was going home! + +He recalled the more amusing incidents of his exile; it seemed to him, +said he, as if for months and months he had been living in a dream. + +And M. Fasquelle broke in with a reminder that M. Zola must be very +careful when he reached his house, and must in no wise damage the +historic table for which he, Fasquelle, had given such a pile of money at +the memorable auction in the Rue de Bruxelles. + +Ah, that table! We were in a mood to laugh about anything, and we laughed +at the thought of the table; at the thought, too, of all the +simple-minded folk who had imagined that they would be able to purchase +'souvenirs' at the auction so abruptly brought to an end. + +Then the Fasquelles, having been to the Oaks on the previous day, began +to talk of Epsom, and the scene, unique in the whole world, which the +famous racecourse presents during Derby week. M. Zola half regretted that +he had missed going. 'But I will go everywhere and see everything,' he +repeated, 'the next time I come to England. I shall then be able to do so +openly, without any playing at hide and seek. Oh, it won't be till after +the Paris Exhibition, that is certain, but I have written an oratorio for +which Bruneau has composed the music, and if it is sung in London, as I +hope, I shall come over and spend a month going about everywhere. But, of +course,' he added, with a twinkle in his eyes, 'I have about two years' +imprisonment to do as things stand, so I must make no positive promises.' + +The rest is soon told. Final arrangements were made, and we came away, M. +and Mme. Fasquelle and myself, about ten o'clock. 'It is your last night +of exile,' I said to M. Zola as I pressed his hand, 'and it will soon be +over. You must try to sleep well.' + +'Sleep!' he replied. 'Oh, there is no sleep for me to-night. From this +moment I shall be counting the hours, the very minutes.' + +'It will make a change for you, Vizetelly,' said M. Fasquelle, as he, +Mme. Fasquelle, and myself walked towards the railway station. 'You will +be missing him now.' + +This was true. All the routine, all the _alertes_, the meetings, the +missions of those eleven months were about to cease abruptly. What had at +first seemed to me novel had with time become confirmed habit, and for +the first few days after M. Zola's departure I felt my occupation gone. + +That departure took place, as arranged, on Sunday evening, June 4. It was +the day when President Loubet was cowardly assailed at a race-meeting by +the friends and partisans of the foolish Duke of Orleans; but of all that +we remained (_pro tem._) in blissful ignorance. The Fasquelles went down +to Norwood and brought M. Zola to Victoria. I was busy during the day +preparing for the 'Westminster Gazette' an English epitome of the +declaration which 'L'Aurore' was to publish on the morrow. That work +accomplished, I met the others on their arrival in town. Wareham had been +warned of the change in the programme on the previous night, and came up +from Wimbledon with my wife. There was a hasty scramble of a dinner at a +restaurant near Victoria. We were served, I remember, by a very amusing +and familiar waiter, who, addressing M. Zola by preference (I wonder if +he recognised him?), kept on repeating that he was a 'citizen of the most +noble Helvetian Confederation,' and assured us that potatoes for two +would be ample, and that chicken for three would be as much as we should +care to eat. 'Take this,' said he, 'it's to-day's. Don't have that, it +was cooked yesterday.' And all this made us extremely merry. 'It seems to +me more than ever that I am living in a dream,' said M. Zola after a +final laugh. 'That waiter has given the finishing touch to my illusion.' + +The train started at nine P.M., and we had a full quarter of an hour at +our disposal for our leave-takings in the dimly-lighted station. There +were few passengers travelling that night, and few loiterers about. We +made M. Zola take his seat in a compartment, and stood on guard before it +talking to him. Only one gentleman, a short dapper individual with +mutton-chop whiskers (Wareham suggested that he looked like a barrister), +paid any attention to the master, and, it may be, recognised him. For the +rest, all went well. There were _au revoirs_ and handshakes all round, +and messages, too, for one and another. And M. Zola would have his little +joke. 'If you should come across Esterhazy,' he said to me, 'tell him +that I've gone back, and ask him when he's coming.' + +'Well,' I replied, 'he will probably want another safe-conduct before +answering that question.' + +'Do you think that a safe-conduct to take Dreyfus's place would suit +him?' was M. Zola's retort. + +But the clock was now on the stroke of the hour, the carriage doors were +hastily closed, and the signal for departure was given. + +'Au revoir, au revoir!' A last handshake, and the train started. For +another half-minute we could see our dear and illustrious friend at his +carriage window waving his arm to us. And then he was gone. The +responsibility which had so long rested on Wareham and myself was ended; +Emile Zola's exit was virtually over: shortly after five o'clock on the +following morning he would once more be in Paris, ready to take his part +in the final, crowning act of one of the greatest dramas that the world +has ever witnessed. Truth was still marching on, and assuredly nothing +would be able to stop it. + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's With Zola in England, by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10670 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf595fe --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10670 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10670) diff --git a/old/10670.txt b/old/10670.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..495c2b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10670.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4800 @@ +Project Gutenberg's With Zola in England, by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: With Zola in England + +Author: Ernest Alfred Vizetelly + +Release Date: January 10, 2004 [EBook #10670] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH ZOLA IN ENGLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny, and David Widger + + + + + WITH ZOLA IN ENGLAND + + A STORY OF EXILE + + + TOLD BY + + ERNEST ALFRED VIZETELLY + + + + TO + VIOLETTE AND TO VICTOR + TO DORA AND TO BOTH MARIES + DEAR WIFE AND ROMPING DAUGHTER + I LOVINGLY INSCRIBE + THIS LITTLE BOOK + + + +He begged for Light! . . Lo, Darkness fell, + And round him cast its stifling pall! +In vain he clamoured! Ev'ry Hell + Poured forth its fumes to drown his call. + +He cried for Truth! . . Lo, Falsehood came, + In robes of Impudence array'd, +Polluting Patriotism's name, + Degrading Honour to a trade. + +He asked for Justice! . . Lo, between + Him and the judgment-seat there rose +The Sword of Menace, ever keen + To smite the braggart War-Wolf's foes! + +Light, Truth, and Justice all denied, + He struggled on 'mid threat and blow-- +A brave Voice battling by his side-- + Till Error's minions struck him low. + +Yet is his faith not dead, nor mine: + O'er deepest gloom, o'er worst distress, +Ever the mighty Sun doth shine + Aglow with Truth and Righteousness. + +The blackest clouds are rent at last; + And the divine resistless flame +Through all, some morn, its blaze shall cast, + The Wrong disclose, the Right proclaim! + + E. A. V. + +February 23, 1898. + + +[Printed in 'The Star' on the morrow of M. Zola's condemnation in Paris] + + + + PREFACE + +All that I claim for this little book, reprinted from the columns of 'The +Evening News,' is the quality of frankness. I do not desire to check or +disarm criticism, but I have a right to point out that I have performed +my work rapidly and have largely subordinated certain literary +considerations to a desire to write my story naturally and simply, in +much the same way as I should have told it in conversation with a friend. +Very rarely, I think, have I departed from this rule. + +The book supplies an accurate account of Emile Zola's exile in this +country; but some matters I have treated briefly because he himself +proposes to give the world--probably in diary form--some impressions of +his sojourn in England with a record of his feelings day by day whilst +the great campaign in favour of the unfortunate Alfred Dreyfus was in +progress. + +First, however, M. Zola intends to collect in a volume all his published +declarations, articles and letters on the Affair. Secondly, he will +recount in another volume his trials at Paris and Versailles; and only in +a third volume will he be able to deal with his English experiences. The +last work can scarcely be ready before the end of 1900, and possibly it +may not appear until the following year. And this is one of the reasons +which have induced me to offer to all who are interested in the great +French writer this present narrative of mine. Should the master's +promised record duly appear, my own will sink into oblivion; but if, for +one or another reason, M. Zola is prevented from carrying out his plans, +here, then, will at least be found some account of one of the most +curious passages in his life. And then, perchance, my narrative may +attain to the rank of _memoire pour servir_. + +I have said that I claim for my book the quality of frankness. In this +connection I may point out that I have made in it a full confession of +certain delinquencies which were forced on me by circumstances. I trust, +however, that my brother-journalists will forgive me if I occasionally +led them astray with regard to M. Zola's presence in England; for I did +so purely and simply in the interests of the illustrious friend who had +placed himself in my hands. + +That M. Zola should have applied to me directly he arrived in London will +surprise none of those who are aware of the confidence he has for several +years reposed in me. A newspaper referring to our connection recently +called the great novelist 'my employer.' But there has never been any +question of employer or employed between Mr. Zola and me. I should +certainly never think of accepting remuneration for any little service I +might have been able to render him; nor would he dream of hurting my +feelings by offering it. No. The simple truth is that for some years now +I have translated M. Zola's novels into English, and that I have taken my +share of the proceeds of the translations. For the rest our intercourse +has been purely and simply that of friends. + +It is because, I believe, I know and understand Emile Zola so well, that +I never once lost confidence in him throughout the events which led to +his exile in England. That exile, curiously enough, I foreshadowed in a +letter addressed to the 'Star' some months before it actually began. +When, however, one has been intimate with the French for thirty years or +so it is not, to my thinking, so very difficult to tell what is likely to +happen in a given French crisis. The unexpected has to be reckoned with, +of course; and much depends on ability to estimate the form which the +unexpected may take. Here experience, familiarity with details of +contemporary French history, and personal knowledge of the men concerned +in the issue, become indispensable. + +On January 16, 1898, three days after M. Zola's famous 'J'accuse' letter +appeared in 'L'Aurore,' and two days before the French Government +instructed the Public Prosecutor to proceed against its author, I wrote +to the 'Westminster Gazette' a long letter dealing with M. Zola's +position. In this letter, which appeared in the issue of the 19th, I +began by establishing a comparison between Zola and Voltaire, whose +action with regard to the memory of Jean Calas I briefly epitomised. +Curiously enough at that moment M. Zola, as I afterwards learnt, was +telling the Paris correspondent of the 'Daily Chronicle' that the +opposition offered to his advocacy of the cause of Alfred Dreyfus was +identical with that encountered by Voltaire in his championship of Calas. +This was a curious little coincidence, for I wrote my letter without +having any communication with M. Zola respecting it. It contained some +passes which I here venture to quote. In a book dealing with the great +novelist these passages may not be out of place, as they serve to +illustrate his general attitude towards the Dreyfus case. + +'Truth,' I wrote, 'has been the one passion of Emile Zola's life.* "May +all be revealed so that all may be cured" has been his sole motto in +dealing with social problems. "Light, more light!"--the last words gasped +by Goethe on his death-bed--has ever been his cry. Holding the views he +holds, he could not do otherwise than come forward at this crisis in +French history as the champion of truth and justice. Silence on his part +would have been a denial of all his principles, all his past life. . . . +Against him are marshalled all the Powers of Darkness, all the energy of +those who prefer concealment to light, all the enmity of the military +hierarchy which has never forgotten "La Debacle," all the hatred of the +Roman hierarchy which will never forgive "Lourdes" and "Rome." And the +fetish of Patriotism is brandished hither and thither, rallying even +free-thinkers to the cause of concealment, while each and every appeal +for light and truth is met by the clamorous cry: "Down with the dirty +Jews!" + + * He himself wrote these very words seventeen months later in + his article 'Justice,' published in Paris on his return from + exile. + +'For even as Jean Calas was guilty of being a Protestant so is Alfred +Dreyfus guilty of being a Jew, and at the present hour unhappily there +are millions of French people who can no more believe in a Jew's +innocence than their forerunners could believe a Protestant to be +guiltless. Zola, for his part, is no Jew, nor can he even be called a +friend of the Jews--in several of his books he has attacked them somewhat +violently for certain tendencies shown by some of their number--but most +assuredly does he regard them as fellow-men and not as loathsome animals. +In the same way Voltaire wrote pungent pages against the narrow practices +of Calvinism and yet espoused the causes of Calas and Sirven, even as +Zola has espoused that of Dreyfus. The only remaining question is whether +Zola will prove as successful as his famous forerunner. [Nearly the whole +of the European press was at that stage expressing doubt on this point.] +In this connection I may say that I regard Zola as a man of very calm, +methodical, judicial mind. He is no ranter, no lover of words for words' +sake, no fiery enthusiast. Each of his books is a most laborious, +painstaking piece of work. If he ever brings forward a theory he bases it +on a mountain of evidence, and he invariably subordinates his feeling to +his reason. I therefore venture to say that if he has come forward so +prominently in this Dreyfus case it is not because he _feels_ that wrong +has been done, but because he is absolutely _convinced_ of it. Doubtless +many of the expressions in his recent letter to President Faure have come +from his heart, but they were in the first place dictated by his reason. +It is not for me here and at the present hour to speak of proofs, however +great may be public curiosity; but most certainly Zola has not taken up +this case without what he considers to be abundant proof. I do not say he +will be able to prove each and every item of his great indictment, but +when you wish to bring everything to light it is often necessary to cast +your net so wide that none shall escape it, none linger in concealment +with their actions unexplained. And I take it that whatever be the +verdict of Zola's countrymen, whether or not Alfred Dreyfus be again and +this time absolutely proved guilty . . . Zola himself will have done good +work in striving to bring the whole truth to light so that it shall be as +evident to one and all as the very sun itself. And this, when all is +said, is really Zola's one great object in this terrible business. + +'I may add that he is risking far more than his great predecessor risked +in favour of Calas. Voltaire pleaded from his retirement on the Swiss +frontier; Zola pleads the cause he has adopted on the very spot, on the +very scene of all the agitation. Anonymous assassins threaten him with +death in letters and postcards. Fanatical Jew-baiters march through the +streets anxious for an opportunity to wreck his house and murder not only +himself but his wife also in the sacred name of Patriotism.* Should their +menaces be escaped there remains the Assize Court with a jury that will +need to be brave indeed if it is to resist all the pressure of a +deliberately organised "terror." At the end possibly lie imprisonment, +fine, disgrace, ruin. How jubilantly some are already rubbing their hands +in the bishops' palaces, the parsonages, the sacristies of France! Ah! no +stone will be kept unturned to secure a conviction! But Emile Zola does +not waver. It may be the truth, the whole truth will only be known to the +world in some distant century; but he, anxious to hasten its advent and +prevent the irreparable, courageously stakes all that he has, person, +position, fame, affections, and friendships. . . . And this he does for +no personal object whatsoever, but in the sole cause of truth and +justice, ever repeating the cry common to both Goethe and himself: +"Light, more light!" + + * There is not the slightest doubt that M. Zola incurred the + greatest personal danger between January and April 1898. + M. Ranc, the old and tried Republican, who knows what danger + is, has lately pointed this out in forcible terms in the + Paris journal _Le Matin_. + +'Ah! to all the true hearts that have followed and loved him through +years of mingled blame and praise, hard-earned victory and unmerited +reviling, he is at this hour dearer even than he was before; for he has +now put the seal upon his principles, and to the force of precept has +added that of the most courageous personal example.' + +This then is what I wrote immediately after the publication of Zola's +letter 'J'accuse,' basing myself simply on my knowledge of the master's +character, of the passions let loose in France, and of a few matters +connected with the Dreyfus case, then kept secret but now public +property. And had I to write anything of the kind at the present time, I +should, I think, have but few words to alter beyond substituting the past +for the present or future tense. In one respect I was mistaken. I did not +imagine the truth to be quite so near at hand. Since January 1898, +however, nine-tenths of it have been revealed and the rest must now soon +follow. And I hold, as all hold who know the inner workings of l'Affaire +Dreyfus, that M. Zola's exile, like his letter to President Faure and his +repeated trials for libel, has in a large degree contributed to this +victory of truth. For by going into voluntary banishment, he kept not +only his own but also Dreyfus's case 'open,' and thus helped to foil the +last desperate attempts that were being made to prevent the truth from +being discovered. + +I should add that in the following pages I deal very slightly with +l'Affaire Dreyfus, on which so many books have already been written. +Indeed, as a rule, I have only touched on those incidents which had any +marked influence on M. Zola during his sojourn in this country. + + E. A. V. + +MERTON, SURREY. + June 1899. + + + + WITH ZOLA IN ENGLAND + + + + I + + ZOLA LEAVES FRANCE + +From the latter part of the month of July 1898, down to the end of the +ensuing August, a frequent heading to newspaper telegrams and paragraphs +was the query, 'Where is Zola?' The wildest suppositions concerning the +eminent novelist's whereabouts were indulged in and the most +contradictory reports were circulated. It was on July 18 that M. Zola was +tried by default at Versailles and sentenced to twelve months' +imprisonment on the charge of having libelled, in his letter 'J'accuse,' +the military tribunal which had acquitted Commandant Esterhazy. On the +evening of the 19th his disappearance was signalled by various telegrams +from Paris. Most of these asserted that he had gone on a tour to Norway, +a course which the 'Daily News' correspondent declared to be very +sensible on M. Zola's part, given the tropical heat which then prevailed +in the French metropolis. + +On the 20th, however, the telegrams gave out that Zola had left Paris on +the previous evening by the 8.35 express for Lucerne, being accompanied +by his wife and her maid. Later, the same day, appeared a graphic account +of how he had dined at a Paris restaurant and thence despatched a waiter +to the Eastern Railway Station to procure tickets for himself and a +friend. The very numbers of these tickets were given! + +Yet a further telegram asserted that he had been recognised by a +fellow-passenger, had left the train before reaching the Swiss frontier, +and had gaily continued his journey on a bicycle. But another newspaper +correspondent treated this account as pure invention, and pledged his +word that M. Zola had gone to Holland by way of Brussels. + +On July 21 his destination was again alleged to be Norway; but--so +desperate were the efforts made to reconcile all the conflicting +rumours--his route was said to lie through Switzerland, Luxemburg, and +the Netherlands. His wife (so the papers reported) was with him, and they +were bicycling up hill and down dale through the aforenamed countries. +Two days later it was declared that he had actually been recognised at a +cafe in Brussels whence he had fled in consequence of the threats of the +customers, who were enraged 'by the presence of such a traitor.' Then he +repaired to Antwerp, where he was also recognised, and where he promptly +embarked on board a steamer bound for Christiania. + +However, on July 25, the 'Petit Journal' authoritatively asserted that +all the reports hitherto published were erroneous. M. Zola, said the +Paris print, was simply hiding in the suburbs of Paris, hoping to reach +Le Havre by night and thence sail for Southampton. But fortunately the +Prefecture of Police was acquainted with his plans, and at the first +movement he might make he would be arrested. + +That same morning our own 'Daily Chronicle' announced M. Zola's presence +at a London hotel, and on the following day the 'Morning Leader' was in a +position to state that the hotel in question was the Grosvenor. Both +'Chronicle' and 'Leader' were right; but as I had received pressing +instructions to contradict all rumours of M. Zola's arrival in London, I +did so in this instance through the medium of the Press Association. I +here frankly acknowledge that I thus deceived both the Press and the +public. I acted in this way, however, for weighty reasons, which will +hereafter appear. + +At this point I would simply say that M. Zola's interests were, in my +estimation, of far more consequence than the claims of public curiosity, +however well meant and even flattering its nature. + +One effect of the Press Association's contradiction was to revive the +Norway and Switzerland stories. Several papers, while adhering to the +statement that M. Zola had been in London, added that he had since left +England with his wife, and that Hamburg was their immediate destination. +And thus the game went merrily on. M. Zola's arrival at Hamburg was duly +reported. Then he sailed on the 'Capella' for Bergen, where his advent +was chronicled by Reuter. Next he was setting out for Trondhiem, whence +in a few days he would join his friend Bjornstjerne Bjornson, the +novelist, at the latter's estate of Aulestad in the Gudbrandsdalen. +Bjornson, as it happened, was then at Munich, in Germany, but this +circumstance did not weigh for a moment with the newspapers. The Norway +story was so generally accepted that a report was spread to the effect +that M. Zola had solicited an audience of the Emperor William, who was in +Norway about that time, and that the Kaiser had peremptorily refused to +see him, so great was the Imperial desire to do nothing of a nature to +give umbrage to France. + +As I have already mentioned, the only true reports (so far as London was +concerned) were those of two English newspapers, but even they were +inaccurate in several matters of detail. For instance, the lady currently +spoken of as Mme. Zola was my own wife, who, it so happens, is a +Frenchwoman. At a later stage the 'Daily Mail' hit the nail on the head +by signalling M. Zola's presence at the Oatlands Park Hotel; but so many +reports having already proved erroneous, the 'Mail' was by no means +certain of the accuracy of its information, and the dubitative form in +which its statement was couched prevented the matter from going further. + +At last a period of comparative quiet set in, and though gentlemen of the +Press were still anxious to extract information from me, nothing further +appeared in print as to M. Zola's whereabouts until the 'Times' Paris +correspondent, M. de Blowitz, contributed to his paper, early in the +present year, a most detailed and amusing account of M. Zola's flight +from France and his subsequent movements in exile. In this narrative one +found Mme. Zola equipping her husband with a nightgown for his perilous +journey abroad, and secreting bank notes in the lining of his garments. +Then, carrying a slip of paper in his hand, the novelist had been passed +on through London from policeman to policeman, until he took train to a +village in Warwickshire, where the little daughter of an innkeeper had +recognised him from seeing his portrait in one of the illustrated +newspapers. + +There was something also about his acquaintance with the vicar of the +locality and a variety of other particulars, all of which helped to make +up as pretty a romance as the 'Times' readers had been favoured with for +many a day. But excellent as was M. de Blowitz's narrative from the +romantic standpoint his information was sadly inaccurate. Of his _bona +fides_ there can be no doubt, but some of M. Zola's friends are rather +partial to a little harmless joking, and it is evident that a trap was +laid for the shrewd correspondent of the 'Times,' and that he, in an +unguarded moment, fell into it. + +On the incidents which immediately preceded M. Zola's departure from +France I shall here be brief; these incidents are only known to me by +statements I have had from M. and Mme. Zola themselves. But the rest is +well within my personal knowledge, as one of the first things which M. +Zola did on arriving in England was to communicate with me and in certain +respects place himself in my hands. + +This, then, is a plain unvarnished narrative--firstly, of the steps that +I took in the matter, in conjunction with a friend, who is by profession +a solicitor; and, secondly, of the principal incidents which marked M. +Zola's views on some matters of interest, as imparted by him to me at +various times. But, ultimately, M. Zola will himself pen his own private +impressions, and on these I shall not trespass. It is because, according +to his own statements to me, his book on his English impressions (should +he write it) could not possibly appear for another twelve months, that I +have put these notes together. + +The real circumstances, then, of M. Zola's departure from France are +these: On July 18, the day fixed for his second trial at Versailles, he +left Paris in a livery-stable brougham hired for the occasion at a cost +of fifty francs. His companion was his _fidus Achates_, M. Fernand +Desmoulin, the painter, who had already acted as his bodyguard at the +time of the great trial in Paris. Versailles was reached in due course, +and the judicial proceedings began under circumstances which have been +chronicled too often to need mention here. When M. Zola had retired from +the court, allowing judgment to go against him by default, he was joined +by Maitre Labori, his counsel, and the pair of them returned to Paris in +the vehicle which had brought M. Zola from the city in the morning. M. +Desmoulin found a seat in another carriage. + +The brougham conveying Messrs. Zola and Labori was driven to the +residence of M. Georges Charpentier, the eminent publisher, in the Avenue +du Bois de Boulogne, and there they were presently joined by M. Georges +Clemenceau, Mme. Zola, and a few others. It was then that the necessity +of leaving France was pressed upon M. Zola, who, though he found the +proposal little to his liking, eventually signified his acquiescence. + +The points urged in favour of his departure abroad were as follows: He +must do his utmost to avoid personal service of the judgment given +against him by default, as the Government was anxious to cast him into +prison and thus stifle his voice. If such service were effected the law +would only allow him a few days in which to apply for a new trial, and as +he could not make default a second time, and could not hope at that stage +for fresh and decisive evidence in his favour, or for a change of tactics +on the part of the judges, this would mean the absolute and irrevocable +loss of his case. + +On the other hand, by avoiding personal service of the judgment he would +retain the right to claim a new trial at any moment he might find +convenient; and thus not only could he prevent his own case from being +closed against him and becoming a _chose jugee_, but he would contribute +powerfully towards keeping the whole Dreyfus affair open, pending +revelations which even then were foreseen. And, naturally, England which +so freely gives asylum to all political offenders, was chosen as his +proper place of exile. + +The amusing story of the nightgown tucked under his arm and the bank +notes sewn up in his coat is, of course, pure invention. A few toilet +articles were pressed upon him, and his wife emptied her own purse into +his own. That was all. Then he set out for the Northern Railway Station, +where he caught the express leaving for Calais at 9 P.M. Fortunately +enough he secured a first-class compartment which had no other occupant. + +M. Clemenceau had previously suggested to him that on his arrival at +London he might well put up at the Grosvenor Hotel, and it is quite +possible that the same gentleman handed him--as stated in the 'Times' +narrative--a slip of paper bearing the name of that noted hostelry. But, +at all events, this paper was never used by M. Zola. He has an excellent +memory, and when he reached Victoria Station at forty minutes past five +o'clock on the morning of July 19, the name of the hotel where he had +arranged to fix his quarters for a few days came readily enough to his +lips. + +There was, however, one thing that he did not know, and that was the +close proximity of this hotel to the railway station. So, having secured +a hansom, he briefly told the Jehu to drive him to the Grosvenor. At +this, cabby looked down from his perch in sheer astonishment. Then, +doubtless, in a considerate and honest spirit--for there are still some +considerate and honest cabbies in London--he tried to explain matters. At +all events he spoke at length. But M. Zola failed to understand him. + +'Grosvenor Hotel,' repeated the novelist; and then, seeing that the cabby +seemed bent on further expostulation, he resolutely took his seat in the +vehicle. This driver, doubtless after the fashion of certain of his Paris +colleagues, must be trying to play some trick in order to avoid a long +journey. It was as well, therefore, to teach him to refrain from trifling +with his 'fares.' + +However, cabby said no more, or if he did his words failed to reach M. +Zola. The reins were jerked, the scraggy night-horse broke into a +spasmodic trot turned out of the station, and pulled up in front of the +caravansary which an eminent butcher has done so much to immortalise. + +Zola was astonished at reaching his destination with such despatch, and +suddenly became conscious of the cabby's real motive in expostulating +with him. However, he ascended the steps, entered the hotel, produced one +of the few hundred-franc notes which his purse contained, and asked first +for change and afterwards for a bedroom. English money was handed to him +for his note, and the night porter carried cabby the regulation shilling +for the journey of a few yards which had been made. + +Then, as M. Zola had no luggage with him, he was requested to deposit a +sovereign with the hotel clerk and to inscribe his name in the register. +This he did, and the tell-tale signature of 'M. Pascal, Paris,' still +remains as a token of the accuracy of this narrative. + +Such, then, was the way in which M. Zola travelled across London, +obligingly passed on from policeman to policeman, and carrying a slip of +paper--a 'way-bill,' as it were--in his hand! As the above account was +given to me by himself, it will probably be deemed more worthy of credit +than the amusing romance which was so successfully palmed off on M. de +Blowitz of the 'Times.' + +Of his journey from Paris that night, he reclining alone in his +compartment as the Calais express rushed across the plains of Picardy +under a star-lit sky; of his embarking on board the little Channel boat +amidst the glimmer of lanterns, his transference to a fresh train at +Dover, followed by another and even faster rush on to London; of his +gloomy thoughts at this sudden severance from one and all, at speeding in +this lonely fashion into exile, and returning surreptitiously, as it +were, to the city where but a few years previously he had been received +as one of the kings of literature, he will ever retain a keen impression. + +It was at Victoria that his journey ended, even as it had ended in 1893; +but how changed the scene! He finds the station gaunt and well-nigh +deserted; the few passengers are gliding away like phantoms into the +morning air; the porters loiter around, and the Customs officers +discharge their duties in a perfunctory, sleepy way. No crowd of Pressmen +and sightseers is present; there are no delegates and address, and +flowers, and cheers as of yore. Only cabby, who expostulates, and who +doubtless thinks this Frenchman a bit of a crank to insist upon being +driven just around the corner! + +And at the hotel no army of servants appears to marshal the master to the +best suite of rooms on the principal floor. In lieu thereof comes a +doubtful greeting and a demand for a deposit of money, for fear lest he +should be some vulgar bilker. Then, once he is in the lift, he goes up +and up without stopping, until the very topmost floor is reached. And +afterwards he is marched along interminable passages, with walls painted +a crude, hideous shade of blue, so offensive to all artistic instinct as +verily to make one's gorge rise. Then at last he finds himself in a room +which, high as it is situated, is of lowly, common aspect. Yet he is only +too glad to reach it, and throw himself on the bed to rest awhile, and to +think. + +New experiences are awaiting him. He is far away from the mob that pelted +his windows with stones and yelled 'Conspuez! Conspuez!' whenever he left +his house. Here there is no hostility. Here quietude prevails, save for +the shrill whistles of arriving or departing trains. Yet he is also far +from the great majority of his affections and friendships. But at this +remembrance a fresh thought comes to him; he takes one of his visiting +cards from his pocket-book, pencils a few lines on it, and encloses it in +an envelope ready to be posted. Then he again lies down; tired as he is, +after his exciting day at Versailles and his wearisome night journey, he +soon falls soundly asleep. + + + + II + + IN LONDON + +On Tuesday, July 19, I went to London on business, and did not return to +my home in the south-western suburbs until nearly seven o'clock in the +evening. My wife immediately placed in my hands an envelope addressed to +me in the handwriting of M. Zola. At first, having noticed neither the +stamp nor the postmark, I imagined that the communication had come from +Paris. + +On opening the envelope, however, I found that it contained a card on +which was written in French and in pencil:-- + + + 'My dear confrere,--Tell nobody in the world, and particularly + no newspaper, that I am in London. And oblige me by coming to + see me to-morrow, Wednesday, at eleven o'clock, at Grosvenor + Hotel. You will ask for M. Pascal. And above all, absolute + Silence, for the most serious interests are at stake. + + 'Cordially, + 'EMILE ZOLA.' + + +I was for a moment amazed and also somewhat affected by this message, the +first addressed by M. Zola to anybody after his departure from France. +Since the publication of his novel 'Paris,' which had followed his first +trial, I had not seen him, and we had exchanged but few letters. I had +written to express my sympathy over the outcome of the proceedings at +Versailles, but owing to his sudden flitting my note had failed to reach +him. And now here he was in London--in exile, as, curiously enough, I +myself had foretold as probable some time before in a letter to one of +the newspapers. + +My first impulse was to hurry to the Grosvenor immediately, but I +reflected that I might not find him there, and that even if I did I might +inconvenience him, as he had appointed the following day for my call. So +I contented myself with telegraphing as follows: 'Pascal, Grosvenor +Hotel.--Rely on me, tomorrow, eleven o'clock.' And, as a precautionary +measure, I signed the telegram merely with my Christian name. + + +As I afterwards learnt, M. Zola had spent that day companionless, walking +about the Mall and St. James's Park, and purchasing a shirt, a collar, +and a pair of socks at a shop in or near Buckingham Palace Road, where, +knowing no English, he explained his requirements by pantomime. He had +further studied several street scenes, and had given some time to +wondering what purpose might be served by a certain ugly elongated +building, overlooking a drive and a park. There was a sentry at the gate, +but the place had such a gaunt, clumsy, and mournful aspect, that M. Zola +could not possibly picture it as the London palace of her most Gracious +Majesty the Queen. + +However, evening found him once more in his room at the Grosvenor; and +feeling tired and feverish he lay down and dozed. When he awoke between +nine and ten o'clock he perceived a buff envelope on the carpet near by +him. It had been thrust under the door during his sleep, and its presence +greatly astonished him, for he expected neither letter nor telegram. For +a moment, as he has told me, he imagined this to be some trap; wondered +if he had been watched and followed to London, and almost made up his +mind to leave the hotel that night. But when, after a little hesitation, +he had opened the envelope and read my telegram, he realised how +groundless had been his alarm. + +On the morrow, when I reached the Grosvenor and inquired at the office +there for M. Pascal, I was asked my name, on giving which I received a +note from M. Zola saying that he unexpectedly found himself obliged to go +out, but would return at 2.30 P.M. As I stood reading this note, I espied +a couple of individuals scrutinising me in what I deemed a most +suspicious manner. Both were Frenchmen evidently; they wore billycock +hats and carried stout sticks; and one of them, swarthy and almost +brigandish of aspect, had the ribbon of the Legion of Honour in his +buttonhole. It was easy to take these individuals for French detectives, +and I hastily jumped to the conclusion that they were on 'M. Pascal's' +track. + +To make matters even more suspicious, when, after placing Zola's note in +my pocket, I began to cross the vestibule, the others deliberately +followed me, and in all likelihood I should have fled never to return if +a well-known figure in a white billycock and grey suit had not suddenly +advanced towards us from the direction of the staircase. In another +moment I had exchanged greetings with M. Zola, and my suspicious +scrutinisers had been introduced to me as friends. One of them was none +other than M. Fernand Desmoulin. They had arrived from Paris that +morning, and were about to sally forth with M. Zola in search of Mr. +Fletcher Moulton, Q.C., to whom they had brought a letter of introduction +from Maitre Labori. + +Hence the note which M. Zola had already deposited for me at the hotel +office. Had I been a moment later I should have found them gone. + +My arrival led to a change in the programme. It was resolved to begin +matters with lunch at the hotel itself, to postpone the quest for Mr. +Fletcher Moulton until the afternoon. I made, at the time, a note of our +menu. The 'bitter bread of exile' consisted on this occasion of an +omelet, fried soles, fillet of beef, and potatoes. To wash down this +anchoretic fare M. Desmoulin and myself ordered Sauterne and Apollinaris; +but the contents of the water bottle sufficed for M. Zola and the other +gentleman. + +With waiters moving to and fro, nearly always within hearing, there was +little conversation at table, but we afterwards chatted in all freedom in +M. Zola's room just under the roof. Ah! that room. I have already +referred to the dingy aspect which it presented. Around Grosvenor Hotel, +encompassing its roof, runs a huge ornamental cornice, behind which are +the windows of rooms assigned, I suppose, to luggageless visitors. From +the rooms themselves there is nothing to be seen unless you throw back +your head, when a tiny patch of sky above the top line of the cornice +becomes visible. You are, as it were, in a gloomy well. The back of the +cornice, with its plaster stained and cracked, confronts your eyes; and +with a little imagination you can easily fancy yourself in a dungeon +looking into some castle moat. + +'_Le fosse de Vincennes_,' so M. Zola suggested, and that summed up +everything. Yet it seemed to him very appropriate to his circumstances, +and he absolutely refused to exchange rooms with M. Desmoulin, who was +somewhat more comfortably lodged. + +The appointments of M. Zola's chamber were, I remember, of a summary +description. There were few chairs, and so one of us sat on the bed. We +succeeded in procuring some black coffee, though the chambermaid regarded +this as a most unusual 'bedroom order' at that hour of the day; and when +M. Desmoulin had lighted a cigar, his friend a pipe, and myself a +cigarette, a regular Council of War was held. [N.B.--M. Zola gave up +tobacco in his young days, when it was a question of his spending +twopence per diem on himself, or of allowing his mother the wherewithal +to buy an extra pound of bread.] + +The council dealt mainly with two points--first, what was M. Zola to do +in England? Should he go into the country, or to the seaside, or settle +down in the London suburbs? Since he wished to avoid recognition, it +would be foolish for him to remain in London, particularly at an hotel +like the Grosvenor. Then, for my benefit, the legal position was set +forth, as well as the object of taking Maitre Labori's letter to Mr. +Fletcher Moulton. + +The chief point was, Could the French Government in any way signify the +judgment of the Versailles Court to M. Zola personally while he remained +in Great Britain? If the French officials could legally do nothing of +that kind, there would be less necessity for M. Zola to court retirement. + +After the hurly-burly of _l'affaire Dreyfus_, he certainly needed some +rest and privacy, but the question was whether retirement would be a +necessity or a mere matter of convenience. Now the choice of a place of +sojourn depended on the answer to the second question, and it was +resolved, _nem. con._, that M. Desmoulin, who spoke a little English and +knew something of London, should forthwith drive to Mr. Fletcher +Moulton's house in Onslow Square, S.W., in accordance with the address +given on M. Labori's letter. M. Desmoulin's friend, on his side, was to +return to Paris that afternoon by the Club train. So, the council over, +both these gentlemen went off, leaving M. Zola and myself together. + +We had a long and desultory chat, now on the Dreyfus affair generally, +now on M. Zola's personal position, the probable duration of his exile, +and so forth. He himself did not think that he would remain abroad beyond +October at the latest, and as there might be a delay if not a difficulty +in getting any clothes sent to him from Paris, he proposed to make a few +purchases. + +It was then that he told me how he had already bought a shirt, collar, +and socks on the previous day. + +'I had nothing but what I was wearing,' said he. 'I had been to +Versailles and had sat perspiring in the crowded court; then I had spent +the night travelling. I looked dirty, and I felt abominably +uncomfortable. So I go out, yesterday morning, and see a shop with +shirts, neckties, collars, and socks in the window. I go in; I take hold +of my collar, I pull down my cuffs, I tap my shirt front. The shopman +smiles; he understands me. He measures my neck; he gives me a shirt and +some collars. But then we come to the socks, and I pull up my trousers +and point to those I am wearing. He understands immediately. He is very +intelligent. He climbs his steps and pulls parcels and boxes from his +shelves. + +'Here are socks of all colours, dark and light, spotted, striped, in +mixtures, in cotton, in wool, some ribbed and some with silk clockings. +But they are huge! I look at one pair; it is too big; he shows me another +and another; they are still of a larger size. Then, impatient, and +perhaps rather abruptly, I hold out my fist for the man to measure it, +and thus gauge the length of my foot as is done in Paris. But he does not +understand me. He draws back close to the shelves as if he imagines that +I want to box him. And when I again lift my foot to call his attention to +its size, he shows even greater concern. Fortunately an idea comes to me. +I take one of the mammoth socks that are lying on the counter and fold +parts of it neatly back, so as to make it appear very much smaller than +it is. Then the shopman suddenly brightens, taps his forehead, climbs his +steps again, and pulls yet more boxes and parcels from his shelves. And +here at last are the small socks! So I choose a pair, and pay the bill. +And the man bows his thanks, well pleased, it seems, to find that in +thrusting out my fist and raising my foot I had been actuated by no +desire to injure him.' + +I was still chuckling over M. Zola's anecdote when M. Desmoulin returned +from his journey to Onslow Square. He had there interviewed a smart boy +in buttons, who had informed him that his learned master was out of town +electioneering, and might not be home again for a week or two. Desmoulin +had, therefore, retained possession of Maitre Labori's note of +introduction. + +I now remembered what I ought to have recalled before--namely that Mr. +Fletcher Moulton was at that moment a candidate for the parliamentary +representation of the Launceston division of Cornwall. Under such +circumstances it was unlikely that his advice would be available for some +little time to come. And so all idea of applying to him was abandoned. It +may be that this narrative, should it meet the learned gentleman's eye, +will for the first time acquaint him with what was intended by M. Zola, +acting under Maitre Labori's advice. + +M. Zola, I should add, remained most anxious to secure an English legal +opinion on his position, and I therefore suggested to him that I should +that evening consult a discreet and reliable friend of mine, a solicitor. +We, of course, well knew that there could be no extradition, but it was a +point whether a copy of the Versailles judgment might not be legally be +placed in M. Zola's hands, under such conventions as might exist between +France and Great Britain. + +This, I thought, could be ascertained within the next forty-eight hours, +and meantime M. Zola might remain where he was, for I could not well +offer him an asylum in my little home. My connection with him as his +English translator being so widely known, newspaper reporters were +certain to call upon me, and what ever precautions I might take, his +presence in my house would speedily be discovered. On the other hand, M. +Desmoulin wished to go to Brighton or Hastings, but, in my estimation, +both those places, crowded with holiday-makers, were not desirable spots. + +Leaving the Grosvenor, the three of us discussed these matters while +strolling up Buckingham Palace Road. It was a warm sunshiny afternoon, +and the street was full of people. All at once a couple of ladies passed +us, and one of them, after turning her head in our direction, made a +remark to her companion. + +'Did you hear that?' Desmoulin eagerly inquired. 'She spoke in French!' + +'Ah!' I replied. 'What did she say?' + +'"Why," she exclaimed, "there's M. Zola!" Our secret is as good as gone +now! It will be all over London by to-morrow!' + +We felt somewhat alarmed. Who could those ladies be? For my part I had +scarcely noticed them. Desmoulin opined, however, that they might +perchance be French actresses, members possibly of Madame Sarah +Bernhardt's company, which was then in London. And again he urged the +necessity of immediate departure. They must go to Hastings, Brighton, +Ramsgate--some place at all events where the author of 'J'accuse' would +incur less chance of recognition. + +To me it seemed that some quiet, retired country village would be most +suitable. In any town M. Zola would incur great risk of being identified. +Moreover his appearance was conspicuous, his white billycock, his +glasses, his light grey suit, his rosette of the Legion of Honour, his +many characteristic gestures all attracted attention. If anything was to +be done he must begin by Anglicising his appearance. But whatever I might +urge I found him stubborn on that point; and, as for departure from +London, he preferred to postpone this until I should have seen my friend +the solicitor. + +'Everything is as good as lost!' cried M. Desmoulin. 'How foolish, too, +of Clemenceau to have sent you to a swell hotel in a fashionable +neighbourhood! I am certain there are other French people staying at the +Grosvenor--I heard somebody talking French there this morning.' + +This again might lead to unpleasantness, and I could see that the master +was gradually growing anxious. By this time, however, we had reached St. +James's Park, and there, as we seated ourselves on some chairs beside the +ornamental water, I led the conversation into another channel by +producing an evening newspaper, and reading therefrom successive +narratives of how M. Zola had sailed for Norway, how he had taken train +at the Eastern Terminus in Paris, and how he had been bicycling through +the Oberland on his way to some mysterious Helvetian retreat. Then we +laughed--ah! those journalists!--and fears were at an end. + +The ducks paddled past us, the drooping foliage of the island trees +stirred in the warm breeze. On a bench near at hand a couple of vagrants +sat dozing, with their toes protruding through their wretched footgear. +Then a soldier, smart and pert, strolled up, a flower between his lips +and a good-looking girl beside him. Away in front of us were the top +windows and the roofs of St. Anne's Mansions. Farther, on the left, the +clock tower of Westminster glinted in the sun-rays. + +'Fine ducks!' said M. Zola. + +'A pretty corner,' added Desmoulin, waving his hand towards some branches +that drooped to the water's edge. And suddenly I remembered and told them +of another French exile, the epicurean St. Evremond, whose needs were +relieved by Charles II. appointing him governor of yonder Duck Island at +a salary of three hundred pounds a year. + +'Well, I have little money in my pocket,' quoth Zola, 'but I don't think +I shall come to that. I hope that my pen alone will always yield me the +little I require.' + +But Big Ben struck the hour. It was six o'clock. So we separated, Messrs. +Zola and Desmoulin to retire to the dungeon at the Grosvenor, and I to go +in search of my friend the solicitor at his private house at Wimbledon. + + + + III + + DANGER SIGNALS + +That evening, I called upon my friend--Mr. F. W. Wareham, of Wimbledon, +and Ethelburge House, Bishopsgate Street--and laid before him the legal +points. I afterwards arranged to see him on the following morning in +town, when I hoped to fix a meeting between him and M. Zola. My first +call on Thursday, July 21, was made to the Grosvenor Hotel, where I found +both the master and M. Desmoulin in a state of anxiety. M. Zola, for his +part, felt altogether out of his element. After the excitement of his +trial and his journey to England, and the novelty of finding himself +stranded in a strange city, a kind of reaction had set in and he was +extremely depressed. + +M. Desmoulin on his side, having procured several morning newspapers, had +explored their columns to ascertain whether the ladies by whom the master +had been recognised in the street on the previous day, had by any chance +noised the circumstance abroad. However, the Press was still on the +Norway and Holland scents, and as yet not a paper so much as suggested M. +Zola's presence in England. + +'There has hardly been time,' said Desmoulin to me, 'but there will +probably be something fresh this afternoon. Those actresses are certain +to tell people, and we shall have to make ourselves scarce.' + +I tried to cheer and tranquillise both him and M. Zola, and then arranged +that Wareham should come to the hotel at 2 P.M. Meantime, said I, +whatever M. Desmoulin might do, it would be as well for M. Zola to remain +indoors. Several commissions were entrusted to me, and I went off, +promising to return about noon. + +I betook myself first to Messrs. Chatto and Windus's in St. Martin's +Lane, where I arrived a few minutes before ten o'clock. Neither Mr. +Chatto nor his partner, Mr. Percy Spalding, had as yet arrived, and I +therefore had to wait a few minutes. When Mr. Spalding made his +appearance he greeted me with a smile, and while leading the way to his +private room exclaimed, 'So our friend Zola is in London!' + +To describe my amazement is beyond my powers. I could only gasp, 'How do +you know that?' + +'Why, my wife saw him yesterday in Buckingham Palace Road.' + +I was confounded. For my part I had scarcely glanced at the ladies whom +Desmoulin had conjectured to be French actresses--simply because they +were young, prepossessing, and spoke French!--and certainly I should not +readily have recognised Mrs. Spalding, whom I had only met once some +years previously. It now seemed to me rather fortunate that she should be +the person who had recognised M. Zola, since she would naturally be +discreet as soon as the situation should be made clear to her. + +After I had explained the position, I ascertained that the only person +besides herself who knew anything so far were her husband and the lady +friend who had accompanied her on the previous day. + +'I will telegraph to my wife at once,' said Mr. Spalding, 'and you may be +sure that the matter will go no further. We certainly had a hearty laugh +at breakfast this morning when we read in the "Telegraph" of Zola +bicycling over the Swiss frontier; but, of course, as from what you tell +me, the matter is serious, neither my wife nor myself will speak of it.' + +'And her friend?' I exclaimed, 'she knows nothing of the necessity for +secrecy, and may perhaps gossip about it.' + +'She is going to Hastings to-day.' + +'Hastings!' said I, 'why M. Desmoulin, Zola's companion, does nothing but +talk of going to Hastings! I am glad I know this. Hastings is barred for +good, so far as Zola is concerned.' + +'Well, I will arrange for my wife to see her friend this morning before +she starts,' Mr. Spalding rejoined, 'and in this way we may be sure that +her friend will say nothing.' + +This excellent suggestion was acted upon immediately. Mr. Spalding +telegraphed full instructions to his wife, and later in the day I learnt +that everything had been satisfactorily arranged. But for this timely +action, following upon my lucky call at Messrs. Chatto and Windus's +establishment, it is virtually certain that the meeting in the Buckingham +Palace Road would have been talked about and the game of 'Where is Zola?' +brought to an abrupt conclusion. As it happened, both ladies, being duly +warned, preserved absolute secrecy. + +After going to Bishopsgate Street to see Wareham, and executing several +minor commissions, I returned to the Grosvenor, where Zola and Desmoulin +were much amused when I told them of the outcome of the previous day's +fright. + +'It was a remarkable coincidence certainly,' said M. Zola. 'At a low +calculation I daresay a thousand women passed me in the streets +yesterday; just one of them recognised me, and she, you say, was Mrs. +Spalding. Shortsighted as I am, not having seen her, too, since I was in +England, a few years ago, I had no notion she was the person who turned +as she passed along, and said, "There's Monsieur Zola." + +'But the curious part of it is that you should have had to go to +Chatto's, and should have learnt the lady's name so promptly from her +husband! Mathematically there were untold chances that this lady who +recognised me might be some stranger's wife, and that we might never more +hear anything of her! Yet you discover her identity at once. This is the +kind of thing which occasionally occurs in novels, but which critics say +never happens in real life. Well, now we know the contrary.' + +And he added gaily, 'You see it is another instance of my good luck, +which still attends me in spite of all the striving of those who bear me +grudges.' + +So far as the ladies were concerned things were, indeed, very +satisfactory. But the same could hardly be said of the position at the +Grosvenor. Neither M. Zola nor M. Desmoulin could leave the hotel or +return to it without being scrutinised. They had also noticed many a +glance in their direction at meal-time in the dining-room; and they had +come to the conclusion that departure was imperative. I did not gainsay +them, for I shared their views, and, in fact, I had already discussed the +matter with Wareham. I explained, however, that one must have a few hours +to devise suitable plans. + +Seaside places were dangerous at that time of the year, and the best +course would probably be to take a furnished house in the country. +Meantime, said I, Wareham had kindly offered to accommodate M. Zola at +his residence at Wimbledon, while M. Desmoulin might sleep close by at +the house of Mr. Everson (Wareham's managing clerk), who also disposed of +a spare bedroom. Further discussion of these matters was postponed, +however, until Wareham's arrive at the Grosvenor in the afternoon. + +As Zola and Desmoulin both distrusted the inquisitive glances of the +visitors and the attendants at the hotel, we lunched, I remember, at a +restaurant in or near Victoria Street--a deep, narrow place, crowded with +little tables. And here again M. Zola, in his light garments, with the +rosette of the Legion of Honour showing brightly in his buttonhole, +became the observed of all observers. + +He was, indeed, so conspicuous, so characteristic a figure that, looking +backward and remembering how repeatedly the illustrated papers had +portrayed him and how many photographs of him were to be seen in shop +windows, I often wonder how it happened that he was not recognised a +hundred times during those few days spent in London. It may be that many +did recognise him, but held their tongues. As yet, certainly, there was +not a word in the newspapers to set his adversaries upon his track. + +It was in a corner of the smoking-room at the Grosvenor, a hot gloomy +apartment overlooking Victoria Station, that I introduced Wareham to the +novelist. The former had already formed some opinion, but a few points +remained for consideration. The chief of these, as Wareham explained, was +how far the French Republic might claim jurisdiction over Frenchmen. + +In matters of process some countries asserted a measure of authority over +their subjects wherever they might be; and the question was, what might +be the law of France in that respect? Of course M. Zola could not be +extradited. The offence for which he had been sentenced did not come +within the purview of the Extradition Act. Again (in reply to a query +from M. Zola), there was no diplomatic channel through which a French +criminal libel judgment could be signified in England. But suppose that +French detectives should discover M. Zola's whereabouts, and suppose a +French process-server should quietly come to England with a couple of +witnesses, and by some craft or good luck should succeed in placing a +copy of the Versailles judgment in M. Zola's hands? + +Unless a breach of the Queen's peace were committed, it might be +difficult for the English authorities to interfere. There appeared to be +no case or precedent in England applying to such a matter. In Germany a +foreign process-server would be liable to penal servitude. But, of +course, that was not to the point. Again, although the service by a +foreigner might not hold good in English law, that had nothing to do with +it. The process-server and his witnesses would immediately return to +France; they would there prove to the satisfaction of their employers +that they had served the judgment on M. Zola personally, and they would +be able to snap their fingers at English lawyers should the latter +complain that the thrusting of a document into a man's hand under such +circumstances was a technical assault. They would have gained their +point. Judgment would have been served, and in accordance with French law +M. Zola would be called upon to enter an appearance against it at +Versailles. + +'Things must largely depend,' concluded Wareham, 'on whether French law +allows process to be served on a subject out of the jurisdiction. And +that is a point rather for French legal advisers than for me. Still I +shall look into the matter further; and if at the same time Maitre Labori +can be communicated with and can supply his opinion on the question, so +much the better. I now raise the point because it seems the crux of the +whole matter, and if it goes against us it is certain that M. Zola ought +to remain in close retirement. For the present it is as well that he +should run as little risk as possible.' + +M. Zola acquiesced in the suggestion of writing to his French counsel on +the point which had been raised; and the conversation then went on in the +same low tone that had been preserved from the outset. + +On entering the smoking-room we had found it deserted, but whilst Wareham +was speaking a couple of gentlemen had come in. One, I remember, was an +elderly, florid man, with mutton-chop whiskers and a buff waistcoat, who +took his stand beside the fireplace at the further end of the room and +puffed away at a big cigar. He looked inoffensive enough, and paid no +attention to us. But the other, a middle-aged individual, tall and slim, +with military moustaches, eyed us very keenly, changed his position two +or three times, and finally installed himself in a chair, whence, while +trifling with a cigarette, he commanded a good view of M. Zola's face. +Desmoulin, I think, was the first to notice this, and to call the +novelist's attention to it. Zola then shifted his position, and the +military looking gentleman soon did the same. At last, doubtless having +satisfied his curiosity, he left the room, not, however, without a sharp, +comprehensive survey of our party as he passed us on his way out. + +I do not now exactly remember how it happened that Wareham was not +received in the 'dungeon,' instead of the smoking-room. The choice of the +latter apartment was unfortunate. I have no doubt that, if some of the +newspapers were, a day or two afterwards, able to state that M. Zola was +staying at the Grosvenor Hotel, it was through certain remarks made by +the inquisitive military looking gentleman to whom I have referred. + +On the other hand his curiosity exercised decisive influence over M. +Zola's subsequent movements. He had hitherto been rather chary of +accepting Wareham's hospitality, for fear lest he should inconvenience +him. But the offer now being renewed was promptly accepted, and it was +agreed that I should take both Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin to Wimbledon +that evening. + +As it was to be expected that several letters from Paris would arrive at +the hotel, addressed to M. Pascal, I arranged to call or send for them. +The same course was adopted with regard to a few articles which M. Zola +had given to be washed and which had not yet been returned to him. Some +of these things were significantly marked with the letter 'Z,' and for +this reason it was desirable that they should be recovered. Here I may +mention that during the next few days my wife repeatedly called at the +Grosvenor for M. Zola's correspondence, a circumstance which doubtless +gave rise to the rumour that Mme. Zola had joined her husband in London. + +The exodus from the hotel was not particularly imposing. M. Desmoulin had +originally intended to stay but one day in London, and thus merely had a +dressing-case with him. As for M. Zola, his few belongings (inclusive of +a small bottle of ink, which he would not part with) were stuffed into +his pockets, or went towards the making of a peculiarly shaped newspaper +parcel, tied round with odd bits of string. Dressing-case and parcel were +duly brought down into the grand vestibule, where the hotel servants +smiled on them benignly. There was, indeed, some little humour in the +situation. + +The novelist, with his gold pince-nez and gold watch-chair, his red +rosette, and a large and remarkably fine diamond sparking on one of his +little fingers, looked so eminently respectable that it was difficult to +associate him with the wretched misshapen newspaper parcel--his only +luggage!--which he eyed so jealously. However, as the attendants were all +liberally fee'd, they remained strictly polite even if they felt amused. +I ordered a hansom to be called, and we just contrived to squeeze +ourselves and the precious newspaper parcel inside it. The dressing-case +was hoisted aloft. Then the hotel porter asked me, 'Where to, sir?' + +'Charing Cross Station,' I replied, and the next moment we were bowling +along Buckingham Palace Road. + +Perhaps a minute elapsed before I tapped the cab-roof with my walking +stick. On cabby looking down at me, I said, 'Did I tell you Charing Cross +just now, driver? Ah! well, I made a mistake. I meant Waterloo.' + +'Right, sir,' rejoined cabby; and on we went. + +It was a paltry device, perhaps, this trick of giving one direction in +the hearing of the hotel servants, and then another when the hotel was +out of sight. But, as the reader must know, this kind of thing is always +done in novels--particularly in detective stories. + +And recollections had come to me of some of Gaboriau's tales which long +ago I had helped to place before the English public. It might be that the +renowned Monsieur Lecoq or his successor, or perchance some English +_confrere_ like Mr. Sherlock Holmes, would presently be after us, and so +it was just as well to play the game according to the orthodox rules of +romance. After all, was it not in something akin to a romance that I was +living? + + + + IV + + A CHANGE OF QUARTERS + +It should be mentioned that the departure of Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin +from the Grosvenor Hotel took place almost immediately after Wareham had +returned to his office. We were not to meet our friend the solicitor +again until the evening at Wimbledon, but the hotel being apparently a +dangerous spot, it was thought best to quit it forthwith. + +When we reached Waterloo the dressing-case and the newspaper parcel were +deposited at one of the cloak-rooms; and after making the round of the +station, we descended into the Waterloo Road. At first we sauntered +towards the New Cut, and of course M. Zola could not help noticing the +contrast between the dingy surroundings amidst which he now found himself +and the stylish shops and roads he had seen in the Buckingham Palace +Road. The vista was not cheering, so I proposed that we should retrace +our steps and go as far as Waterloo Bridge. + +There seemed to be little risk in doing so, for, as usual hereabouts in +the middle of the afternoon, there were few people to be seen. The great +successive rush of homeward-bound employers, clerks, and workpeople had +not yet set in. And, moreover, there was plenty of time; for Wareham, +having important business in town that day, could not possibly be at +Wimbledon till half-past six at the earliest. + +We reached the bridge--'that monument,' as a famous Frenchman once put +in, 'worthy of Sesostris and the Caesars'--and went about half-way +across. It was splendid weather, and the Thames was aglow with the +countless reflections of the sunbeams that fell from the hot, whitening +sky. London was before us, 'with her palaces down to the water'; and M. +Zola stopped short, gazing intently at the scene. + +'Up-stream the view was spoilt,' said he, 'by the hideous Hungerford +Bridge, unworthy alike of the city and the river'--an erection such as no +Paris municipality would have tolerated for four and twenty hours. It was +the more obtrusive and aggravating, since beyond it one discerned but +little of the towers of Westminster. 'Admitting,' added the novelist, +'that a bridge is needed at that point for railway traffic, surely there +is no reason why it should be so surprisingly ugly. However, from all I +see, it seems more and more evident that you English people are very much +in the habit of sacrificing beauty to utility, forgetting that with a +little artistic sense it is easy to combine the two.' + +Then, however, he turned slightly, and looked down-stream where the +Victoria Embankment spreads past the Temple to Blackfriars. The +colonnades of Somerset House showed boldly and with a certain majesty in +the foreground, whilst in the distance, high over every roof, arose the +leaden dome of St. Paul's. This vista was rather to M. Zola's liking. +Close beside us, on the bridge, was one of the semi-circular embrasures +garnished with stone seats. A pitiful-looking vagrant was lolling there; +but this made no difference to M. Zola. He installed himself on the seat +with Desmoulin on one hand and myself on the other, and there we remained +for some little time looking about us and chatting. + +'This was the only thing wanted,' said Desmoulin, who generally had some +humorous remark in readiness for every situation. 'Yesterday at the +Grosvenor we were in the _fosse de Vincennes_, and now, as they say in +the melodrama of "The Knights of the Fog" ("Les Chevaliers du +Brouillard"*), we are "homeless wanderers stranded on the bridges of +London."' + + * The French dramatic adaptation of Ainsworth's 'Jack Sheppard.' + +The allusion to the fog roused M. Zola from his contemplation. + +'But where is the Savoy Hotel, where I stayed in '93?' he inquired. 'It +must be very near here.' + +I pointed it out to him, and he was astonished. 'Why, no--that cannot be! +It is so large a place, and now it looks so small. What is that huge +building beside it?' + +'The Hotel Cecil,' I replied. + +Then again he shook his head in disapproval. From an artistic standpoint +he strongly objected to the huge caravansary on which builder Hobbs and +pious Jabez Balfour spent so much of other people's money. Soaring +massively and pretentiously into the sky it dwarfed everything around; +and thus, in his opinion, utterly spoilt that part of the Embankment. + +'To think, too,' said he, 'that you had such a site, here, along the +river, and allowed it to be used for hotels and clubs, and so forth. +There was room for a Louvre here, and you want one badly; for your +National Gallery, which I well remember visiting in '93, is a most +wretched affair architecturally.' + +'But I want to see rather more of the south side of the river,' he added, +after a pause. 'I should like to ascertain if my lion is still there. I +recollect that there was some fog about on the morning after my arrival +at the Savoy in '93; and when I went to the window of my room I noticed +the mist parting--one mass of vapour ascending skyward, while the other +still hovered over the river. And, in the rent between, I espied a lion, +poised in mid air. It amused me vastly; and I called my wife, saying to +her, "Come and see. Here's the British lion waiting to bid us good-day."' + +We went to the end of the bridge and thence espied the lion which +surmounts the brewery of that name. M. Zola recognised it immediately. +Desmoulin would then have led us Strandward; but the Strand, said I, was +about the most dangerous thoroughfare in all London for those who wished +to escape recognition; so we went back over the bridge and again down the +Waterloo road. + +'I should like very much to send a line to Paris to-day to stop letters +from going to the Grosvenor,' said M. Zola. 'Is there any place +hereabouts where I could write a note?' + +This question perplexed me, for the numerous facilities for +letter-writing which are supplied by the cafes of Paris are conspicuously +absent in London; and this I explained to M. Zola. A postage stamp may +often be procured at a public-house, but only now and again can one there +obtain ink and paper. However, I thought we might as well try the saloon +bar of the York Hotel, which abuts on the famous 'Poverty Corner,' so +much frequented by ladies and gentlemen of the 'halls,' when, sorely +against their inclinations, they are 'resting.' + +It was Thursday afternoon; still there were several disconsolate-looking +individuals lounging about the corner; and in the saloon bar we found +some fourteen or fifteen loudly dressed men and women typical of the +spot. I forget what I ordered for Desmoulin and myself, but M. Zola, I +know imbibed, mainly for the good of the house, 'a small lemon plain.' +Then we ascertained that the young lady at the bar had neither stamps, +nor paper, nor envelopes, and so we were again in a quandary. Fortunately +I recollected a little stationer's shop in the York Road, and leaving the +others in the saloon bar, I went in search of the requisite materials. + +When I returned I found the master an object of general attention. His +extremely prosperous appearance, his white billycock, his jewellery, and +so forth, coupled with the circumstance that he conversed in French with +Desmoulin, had led some of those present to imagine that he was a +Continental music-hall director on the look out for English 'artists.' + +Again and again I noticed, as it were, a 'hungry' glance in his +direction; and when, after procuring an inkstand from over the bar, I had +ensconced him in a corner, where he was able after a fashion to pen his +correspondence, a vivacious and, it seemed to me, somewhat bibulous +gentleman in a check suit sidled up to where I stood and introduced +himself in that easy way which repeated 'drops' of 'Mountain Dew' are apt +to engender. + +'Ah!' said he, after a few pointless remarks, 'your friend is over here +on business, eh? Right thing, splendid thing. It's only by looking round +that one can get real tip-top novelties. Oh! I know Paree and the +bouleywards well enough. I was on at the Follee Bergey only a few years +ago myself. A good place that--pays well, eh? I shouldn't at all mind +taking a trip across the water again. There's nothing like a change, you +know. Sets a man up, eh?' + +Then mysteriously--lifting his forefinger and lowering his voice, 'Now +your friend wants "talent," eh? Real, genuine "talent"! I could put him +in the way----' + +But I interposed: 'You've applied to the wrong shop,' I said by way of a +joke; 'my friend has all the talent he requires. He's quite full up.' + +A sorrowful look came over the angular features of the gentleman in the +check suit. 'It's like my luck,' said he; 'there was a fellow over from +Amsterdam the other day, but he'd only take girls. I think the +Continental line's pretty nigh played out.' + +He heaved a sigh and glanced in the direction of his empty glass. Then, +seeing that the novelist and Desmoulin were rising to join me, he +whispered hurriedly, _'I say, guv'nor, you haven't got a tanner you could +spare, have you?'_ + +I had foreseen the request; nevertheless I pressed a few coppers into his +hand and then hurried out after my wards. + +Though it was still early we decided to start at once for Wimbledon. The +master, I thought, might like to see a little of the place pending +Wareham's arrival. + +The journey through Lambeth, Vauxhall, and Queen's Road is not calculated +to give the intelligent foreigner a particularly favourable impression of +London. Still M. Zola did not at first find the surroundings very much +worse than those one observes on leaving Paris by the Northern or Eastern +lines. But as the train went on and on and much the same scene appeared +on either hand he began to wonder when it would all end. + +On approaching Clapham Junction a sea of roofs is to be seen on the right +stretching away through Battersea to the Thames; while on the left a huge +wave of houses ascends the acclivity known, I believe, as Lavender Hill. +And at the sight of all the mean, dusty streets, lined with little houses +of uniform pattern, each close pressed to the other--at the frequently +recurring glimpses of squalor and shabby gentility--M. Zola exploded. + +'It is awful!' he said. + +We were alone in our compartment, and he looked first from one window and +then from the other. Next came a torrent of questions: Why were the +houses so small? Why were they all so ugly and so much alike? What +classes of people lived in them? Why were the roads so dusty? Why was +there such a litter of fragments of paper lying about everywhere? Where +those streets never watered? Was there no scavengers' service? And then a +remark: 'You see that house, it looks fairly clean and neat in front. But +there! Look at the back-yard--all rubbish and poverty! One notices that +again and again!' + +We passed Clapham Junction, pursuing our journey through the cutting +which intersects Wandsworth Common. 'Well,' I said, 'you may take it +that, except as regards the postal and police services, you are now out +of London proper.' + +Presently, indeed, we emerged from the cutting, and fields were seen on +either hand. One could breathe at last. But as we approached Earlsfield +Station all M. Zola's attention was given to a long row of low-lying +houses whose yards and gardens extend to the railway line. Now and again +a trim patch of ground was seen; here, too, there was a little +glass-house, there an attempt at an arbour. But litter and rubbish were +only too often apparent. + +'This, I suppose,' said the novelist, 'is what you call a London slum +invading the country? You tell me that only a part of the bourgeoisie +cares for flats, and that among the lower middle class and the working +class each family prefers to rent its own little house. Is this for the +sake of privacy? If so, I see no privacy here. Leaving out the question +of being overlooked from passing trains, observe the open four-foot +fences which separate one garden or yard from the other. There is no +privacy at all! To me the manner in which your poorer classes are housed +in the suburbs, packed closely together in flimsy buildings, where every +sound can be heard, suggests a form of socialism--communism, or perhaps +rather the phalansterian system.' + +But Earlsfield was already passed, and we were reaching Wimbledon. Here +M. Zola's impressions changed. True, he did not have occasion to +perambulate what he would doubtless have called the 'phalansterian' +streets of new South Wimbledon. I spared him the sight of the chess-board +of bricks and mortar into which the speculative builder has turned acre +after acre north of Merton High Street. But the Hill Road, the Broadway, +the Worple Road, and the various turnings that climb towards the Ridgeway +pleased him. And he commented very favourably on the shops in the +Broadway and the Hill Road, which in the waning sunshine still looked gay +and bright. At every moment he stopped to examine something. Such +displays of fruit, and fish, poultry, meat, and provisions of all kinds; +the drapers' windows all aglow with summer fabrics, and those of the +jewellers coruscating with gold and gems. Then the public-houses +--dignified by the name of hotels, though I explained that they had +no hotel accommodation--bespoke all the wealth of a powerful trade. + +There was an imposing bank, too, and a stylish carriage builder's, with +furniture shops, stationers, pastrycooks, hairdressers, ironmongers, and +so forth, whose displays testified to the prosperity of the town. Again +and again did M. Zola express the opinion that these Wimbledon shops were +by far superior to such as one would find in a French town of +corresponding size and at a similar distance from the capital. + +We sauntered up and down the Hill Road, looking in at the Free Library on +our way. Then, on passing the Alexandra Road, I explained to Desmoulin +that he would sleep there, at No. 20, where Wareham has a local office +and where his managing clerk, Everson by name, resides. + +The arrangement with Wareham had been concluded so precipitately that, to +spare him unnecessary trouble at home, we had arranged to dine that +evening at a local restaurant--in fact, the only restaurant possessed by +Wimbledon. Wareham was to join us there. The proprietor, Mr. Genoni, is +of foreign origin, but Wareham knowing him personally had assured me that +even should he suspect our friend's identity his discretion might readily +be relied upon. And so the sequel proved. During our repast, however, I +felt a little doubtful about one of the waiters who know French, and I +therefore cautioned M. Zola and M. Desmoulin to be as reticent as +possible. + +After dinner we adjourned to Wareham's house in Prince's Road, where Mrs. +Wareham gave the travellers the most cordial of welcomes. The +conversation was chiefly confined to the question of finding some +suitable place where M. Zola might settle down for his term of exile. He, +himself, was so taken with what he had seen of Wimbledon that he +suggested renting a furnished house there. This seemed a trifle +dangerous, both to Wareham and myself; but the novelist was not to be +gainsaid; and as Wareham, in anticipation of his services being required, +had made special arrangements to give M. Zola most of his time on the +morrow, we arranged to see some house agents, engage a landau, and drive +round to visit such places as might seem suitable. + +It was nearly half-past eleven when I left Wareham's to escort Desmoulin +to the Alexandra Road. I there left him in charge of his host, Mr. +Everson, and then turning (by way of a short cut) into the Lover's Walk, +which the South Western Railway Company so considerately provides for +amorous Wimbledonians, I hurried homeward, wondering what the morrow +would bring forth. + + + + V + + WIMBLEDON--OATLANDS + +It will be obvious to all readers of this narrative that from the moment +M. Zola left Paris, and throughout his sojourn in London and its +immediate neighbourhood, there was little if any skill shown in the +matter of keeping his movements secret. In point of fact, blunder upon +blunder was committed. A first mistake was made in going to an hotel like +the Grosvenor; a second in openly promenading some of the most frequented +of the London streets; and a third in declining to make the slightest +alteration with regard to personal appearance. Again, although press of +circumstances rendered departure for Wimbledon a necessity, as it was +imperative to get M. Zola out of London at once, this change of quarters +was in the end scarcely conducive to secrecy. A good many Wimbledonians +were aware of my connection with M. Zola, and even if he were not +personally recognised by them, the circumstance of a French gentleman of +striking appearance being seen in my company was fated to arouse +suspicion. My home is but a mile or so from the centre of Wimbledon, and +M. Zola's proposal to make that locality his place of sojourn seemed to +me such a dangerous course that when I returned to Wareham's house on the +morning of Friday, July 22, I was determined to oppose it, in the +master's own interests, as vigorously as might be possible. + +However, I found Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin ready to start for an +inspection of such furnished houses as might seem suitable for their +accommodation; and nothing urged either by Wareham or by myself could +turn them from their purpose. So the four of us took our seats in the +landau which had been ordered, and were soon driving in the direction of +Wimbledon Park, where stood the first of the eligible residences entered +in the books of a local house agent. The terms for these houses varied, +if I recollect rightly, from four to seven guineas a week. Some we did +not trouble to enter; others, however, were carefully inspected. + +Nothing in the way of a terrace house would suit; for M. Zola was not yet +a phalansterian. And in like way he objected to the semi-detached villas. +He wished to secure a somewhat retired place, girt with foliage and thus +screened from the observation of neighbours and passers-by. The low +garden railings and fences usually met with were by no means to his +taste. The flimsy party walls of the semi-detached villas, through which +every sound so swiftly passes, were equally objectionable to him. And I +must say that I viewed with some little satisfaction his dislike for +several of the houses which we visited; for this made it easier to +dissuade him from his plan of fixing his abode in Wimbledon, where, +unless he should rigidly confine himself within doors, it was certain +that his presence would be known before a week was over. + +There were, however, some houses which the master found to his liking; +and here he lingered awhile, inspecting the rooms, taking stock of the +furniture, examining the engravings and water-colours on the walls, and +viewing the trim gardens with visible satisfaction. One place, a large +house in one of the precipitous roads leading from the Ridgeway to the +Worple Road, was, perhaps, rather too open for his requirements, but its +appointments were perfect, and at his bidding I plied the lady of the +house with innumerable questions about plate, linen, and garden produce, +the servants she offered to leave behind her, and so forth. She was a +tall and stately dame, with silver hair and a soft musical voice--a +perfect type of the old marquise, such as one sees portrayed at times on +the boards of the Comedie Francaise, and after I had acted as interpreter +for a quarter of an hour or so, she suddenly turned upon the master and, +to the surprise of all of us, addressed him in perfect French. It was +this which broke the spell. Though M. Zola was taken aback, he responded +politely enough, and the conversation went on in French for some minutes, +but I could already tell that he had renounced his intention of renting +the house. When we drove away, after promising the lady a decisive answer +within a day or two, he said to me: + +'That would never do. The lady's French was too good. She looked at me +rather suspiciously too. She would soon discover my identity. She has +probably heard of me already.' + +'Who hasn't?' I responded with a laugh. And once again I brought forward +the objections that occurred to me with respect to the plan of remaining +at Wimbledon. It was a centre of Roman Catholic activity. There was a +Jesuit college there, numbering both French professors and French pupils. +Moreover, several French families resided in Wimbledon, and with some of +them I was myself acquainted. Then also the population included a good +many literary men, journalists, and others who took an interest in the +Dreyfus case. And, finally, the town was far too near to London to be in +anywise a safe hiding-place. + +Nevertheless, M. Zola only abandoned his intentions with regret. In that +bright sunshiny weather there was an attractive _je ne sais quoi_ about +Wimbledon which charmed him. Not that it was in his estimation an ideal +place. The descents from the hill and the Ridgeway (though he admired the +beautiful views they afforded, stretching as far as Norwood) appalled him +from certain practical standpoints, and he was never weary of expatiating +on the pluck of the girls who cycled so boldly and gracefully from the +hill crest to the lower parts of the town. Here it may be mentioned that +M. Zola has become reconciled to the skirt as a cycling garment. Once +upon a time he was an uncompromising partisan of 'rationals' and +'bloomers,' a warm adherent of the views which Lady Harberton and her +friends uphold. But sojourn in England has changed all that--at least so +far as the English type of girl is concerned. Those who have read his +novel, 'Paris,' may remember that he therein ascribed the following +remarks to his heroine--Marie: 'Ah! there is nothing like rationals! To +think that some women are so foolish and obstinate as to wear skirts when +they cycle! . . . To think that women have a unique opportunity of +putting themselves at their ease and releasing their limbs from prison, +and yet won't do so! If they fancy they look the prettier in short +skirts, like schoolgirls, they are vastly mistaken. . . . Skirts are rank +heresy.' + +Well, so far as Englishwomen are concerned, M. Zola himself has become a +heretic. 'Rationals,' he has more than once said to me of recent times, +'are not suited to the lithe and somewhat spare figure of the average +English girl. Moreover, I doubt if there is a costumier in England who +knows how to cut "rationals" properly. Such women as I have seen in +rationals in England looked to me horrible. They had not the proper +figure for the garment, and the garment itself was badly made. For +rationals to suit a woman, her figure should be of the happy medium, +neither too slim nor over-developed. Now the great bulk of your girls are +extremely slim, and appear in skirts to advantage. In cycling, moreover, +they carry themselves much better than the majority of Frenchwomen do. +They sit their machines gracefully, and the skirt, instead of being a +mere bundle of stuff, falls evenly and fittingly like a necessary +adjunct--the drapery which is needed to complete and set off the +ensemble.' + +At the same time, the master does not cry 'haro' on the 'bloomer.' It is +admirably suited, he maintains, to the average Frenchwoman, who is more +inclined to a reasonable plumpness than her English sister. 'The skirt to +England,' says he, 'the bloomer to France.' The whole question is one of +physique and latitude. The Esquimaux lady would look ungainly and feel +uncomfortable if she exchanged her moose furs for the wisp of calico +which is patronised by the lady of Senegal; and in the like way the +Englishwoman is manifestly ungainly and uncomfortable when she borrows +the breeches of the Parisienne. + +This digression may seem to carry one away from Wimbledon, but I should +mention that many of the points enunciated were touched upon by M. Zola +for the first time, while we postponed further house-hunting to drive +over Wimbledon Common. The historic mill and Caesar's Camp, and the +picturesque meres were all viewed before the horses' heads were turned to +the town once more. + +By this time the master had come to the conclusion that however pleasant +Wimbledon might be, it was no fit place for him, and that his best course +would be to pitch his tent 'far from gay cities and the ways of men.' +Within a few hours I had some proof of the wisdom of his decision, and a +week had not elapsed before I found that M. Zola's sojourn at Wimbledon +had become known to a variety of people. Mr. Genoni, the restaurateur, +had been one of the first to identify him; but, as he explained to me, he +was no spy or betrayer, and whatever he might think of the Dreyfus +business--he was a reader of that anti-Revisionist print the 'Petit +Journal'--M. Zola's secret was, he assured me, quite safe in his hands. +But, independently of Mr. Genoni, the secret soon became _le secret de +Polichinelle_. A French resident in Wimbledon recognised M. Zola as he +stood one day by the railway bridge admiring some fair cyclists. Then a +gentleman connected with the local Petty Sessions court espied him in my +company, and shrewdly guessed his identity. Subsequently a local +hairdresser, an Englishman, but one well acquainted with Paris and +Parisian matters, 'spotted' him in the Hill Road. Others followed suit, +and at last one afternoon a member of the 'Globe' staff called upon me +and supplied me with such circumstantial particulars that I could not +possibly deny the accuracy of his information. But M. Zola had then left +Wimbledon, and thus I was able to fence with my visitor and inform him +that, even if the novelist had ever been in the town, he was not there at +that time. + +It had been arranged that some of the leading London house agents should +be written to, with the view of securing some secluded country house, +preferably in Surrey, and on the South Western line; but the question +was, where, in the meantime, could M. Zola be conveniently installed? +Having left England in the year 1865, and apart from a few brief sojourns +in London, having remained abroad till 1886, my knowledge of my native +land is very slight indeed. Years spent in foreign countries have made me +a stay-at-home--one who nowadays buries himself in his little London +suburb, going to town as seldom as possible, and without need of country +or seaside trip, since at Merton, where I live, there are green fields +all around one and every vivifying breeze that can be wished for. Thus I +was the worst person in the world to take charge of M. Zola and pilot him +safely to a haven of refuge. + +Fortunately, Mr. Wareham knows his way about, as the saying goes, and his +cycling experience proved very useful. He suggested that until a house +could be secured, M. Zola should be installed at a country hotel; and he +mentioned two or three places which seemed to him of the right character. +One of these was Oatlands Park; and Wareham, who, although a solicitor, +claims to have some little poetry in his nature, waxed so enthusiastic +over the charms of Oatlands and neighbouring localities, that both M. +Zola and M. Desmoulin, fervent admirers of scenery as they are, became +curious to visit this leafy district of Surrey, where, as will be +remembered, King Louis Philippe spent his last years of life and exile. + +One afternoon, then, I started with Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin for +Walton, from which station the Oatlands Park Hotel is most conveniently +reached. A Gladstone bag had now replaced the master's newspaper parcel, +and as M. Desmoulin's dressing-case was as large as a valise, there was +at least some semblance of luggage. I fully realised that it was hardly +the correct thing to present oneself at Oatlands Park and ask for rooms +there _ex abrupto_; as with hostelries of that class it is usual for one +to write and secure accommodation beforehand. However, there was no time +for this; and we decided to run the risk of finding the hotel 'full up,' +particularly as Wareham had informed us that in such a case we might +secure a temporary billet at one or another of the smaller hotels of +Walton or Weybridge. Thus we went our way at all hazards, and during the +journey I devised a little story for the benefit of the manager at +Oatlands Park. + +That gentleman, as I had surmised, was a trifle astonished at our +appearance. But I told him that my friends were a couple of French +artists, who had been spending a few weeks in London 'doing the lions' +there, and who had heard of the charming scenery around Oatlands, and +wished to view it, and possibly make a few sketches. And, at the same +time, a solicitor's recommendation being of some value, since it might +mean a good many future customers, I handed the manager one of Wareham's +cards. There was, I remember, some little difficulty at first in +obtaining rooms, for the hotel was nearly full; but everything ended +satisfactorily. + +I may mention, perhaps, that in describing Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin as +French artists, I had at least told half the truth. M. Fernand Desmoulin +is, of course, well known in the French art world; and, moreover, he had +already spoken to me of purchasing a water-colour outfit for the very +purpose of sketching, as I had stated. Then, too, M. Zola first +distinguished himself in literature as an art critic, the defender of +Manet, the champion of the school of the 'open air.' And if he made no +sketches whilst he remained at Oatlands he at least took several +photographs. Sapient critics will stop me here with the oft-repeated +dictum that photography is not art. But however that may be, so many +painters nowadays have recourse to the assistance of photography that M. +Zola's 'snap-shotting' largely helped to bear out the account which I had +given of him at the hotel. + +Oatlands Park is a large pile standing on the site of a magnificent +palace built by Henry VIII. Anne of Denmark, wife of James I., resided +there, and Henrietta Maria there gave birth to the Duke of Gloucester, +the brother of our second Charles and second James. The palace was almost +entirely destroyed during the Civil Wars, and subsequently the property +passed in turn to Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans; Herbert, the admiral, first +Earl of Torrington; and Henry, seventh Earl of Lincoln. A descendant of +the last-named sold the estate to Frederick, Duke of York, the son of +George III. and Commander-in-Chief of the British army. Soon afterwards +the house at Oatlands was destroyed by fire, and the prince erected a new +building, some portions of which are incorporated in the present +hostelry. A pathetic interest attaches to those remains of York House. +Within those walls were spent many of the honeymoon hours of a fair and +virtuous princess, one whose early death plunged England into the deepest +grief it had known for centuries; there she conceived the child who in +the ordinary course of nature might have become King of Great Britain. +But the babe, so anxiously awaited by the whole nation (there was no +Princess Victoria at that time) proved stillborn; and of the unhappy +'mother of the moment,' Byron wrote in immortal lines: + + + Of sackcloth was thy wedding garment made; + Thy bridal's fruit is ashes; in the dust + The fair-hair'd Daughter of the Isles is laid, + The love of millions! + + +I am bound to add that the tragic story of the Princess Charlotte was not +that which most appealed to M. Zola's feelings at Oatlands Park. Nor was +he particularly impressed by the far-famed grotto which the hotel +handbook states 'has no parallel in the world.' The grotto, an artificial +affair, the creation of which is due to a Duke of Newcastle, whom it cost +40,000 pounds, besides giving employment to three men for twenty years, +consists of numerous chambers and passages, whose walls are inlaid with +coloured spars, shells, coral, ammonites, and crystals. This work is +ingenious enough, but when one enters a bath-room and finds a stuffed +alligator there, keeping company with a statue of Venus and a terra-cotta +of the infant Hercules, one is apt to remember how perilously near the +ridiculous is to the sublime. + +Ridiculous also to some minds may seem the Duchess of York's dog and +monkey cemetery, in which half a hundred of that lady's canine and simian +pets lie buried with headstones to their tombs commemorating their +virtues. This cemetery, however, greatly commended itself to M. Zola, +who, as some may know, is a rare lover of animals. Among the various +distinctions accorded to him in happier times by his compatriots there is +none that he has ever prized more highly than the diploma of honour he +received from the French 'Society for the Protection of Animals,' and I +believe that one of the happiest moments he ever knew was when, as +Government delegate at a meeting of that society, he fastened a gold +medal on the bosom of a blushing little shepherdess, a certain Mlle. +Camelin, of Trionne, in Upper Burgundy, a girl of sixteen, who, at the +peril of her life, had engaged a ravenous wolf in single combat, killed +him, and thereby saved her flock. + +And M. Zola's books teem with his love of animals. During his long exile +one of the few requests addressed to him from France, to which he +inclined a favourable ear, was an appeal on behalf of a new journal +devoted to the interests of the animal world. To this he could not refuse +his patronage, and he gave it enthusiastically, well knowing how much +remains to be accomplished in inculcating among the masses such affection +and patience as are rightful with regard to those dumb creatures who +serve man so well. + +The Duchess of York's cemetery reminded him of his own. Below his house +at Medan a green islet rises from the Seine. This he purchased some years +ago, and there all his favourites have since been buried: an old horse, a +goat, and several dogs. During his exile a fresh interment took place in +this island cemetery, that of his last canine favourite, the poor +'Chevalier de Perlinpinpin,' who, after vainly fretting for his absent +master, died at last of sheer grief and loneliness. Those only can +understand Emile Zola who have seen him as I saw him then, bowed down +with sorrow, distraught, indifferent to all else, both the weightiest +personal interests and the very triumph of the cause he had championed; +and this because his pet dog had pined away for him, and was beyond all +possibility of succour. It was of course a passing weakness with him; +such weakness as may fall upon a man of kindly heart. In Zola's case it +came, however, almost like a last blow amidst the sorrow and loneliness +of the exile which he was enduring in silence for the sake of his +much-loved country. + + + + VI + + STILL AT OATLANDS + +For a time, at all events, Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin found themselves in +fairly pleasant quarters; they could stroll about the gardens at Oatlands +or along the umbrageous roads of Walton, or beside the pretty reaches of +the Thames, amidst all desirable quietude. After all his worries the +master needed complete mental rest, and he laughed at his friend's +repeated appeals for newspapers. + +At that period I procured a few French journals every time I went to town +and posted them to Oatlands, where they were eagerly conned by M. +Desmoulin, on whom the Dreyfus fever was as strong as ever. But M. Zola +during the first fortnight of his exile did not once cast eyes upon a +newspaper, and the only information he obtained respecting passing events +was such as Desmoulin or myself imparted to him. And in this he evinced +little interest. Half of it, he said, was absolutely untrue, and the +other half was of no importance. There is certainly much force and truth +in this curtly-worded opinion as applied to the contents of certain Paris +journals. + +However, communications were now being opened up between the master and +his Paris friends, and every few days Wareham or myself had occasion to +go to Oatlands. There were sundry false alarms, too, through strangers +calling at Wareham's office, and now and again my sudden appearance at +the hotel threw Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin into anxiety. In other +respects their life was quiet enough. The people staying at Oatlands +were, on the whole, a much less inquisitive class than those whom one had +found at the Grosvenor. There were various honeymoon-making couples, who +were far too busy feasting their eyes on one another to pay much +attention to two French artists. Then, also, the family people gave time +to the superintendence of their sons and daughters; whilst the old folks +only seemed to care for a leisurely stroll about the grounds, followed by +long spells of book or newspaper reading, under the shelter of tree or +sunshade. + +Moreover the exiles saw little of the other inmates of the hotel, +excepting at the table d'hote dinner. M. Zola then brought his faculties +of observation into play, and after a lapse of a few days he informed me +that he was astonished at the ease and frequency with which some English +girls raised their wine-glasses to their lips. It upset all his idea of +propriety to see young ladies of eighteen tossing off their Moselle and +their champagne as to the manner born. In France the daughter who is +properly trained contents herself with water just coloured by the +addition of a little Bordeaux or Burgundy. And the contrast between this +custom and incidents which M. Zola noticed at Oatlands--and to which he +once or twice called my attention--made a deep impression on him. + +The people staying at the hotel were certainly all of a good class. There +were several well-known names in the register; and knowing how much has +been written on the happy decrease of drinking habits 'in the upper +middle-class of England,' I was myself slightly surprised at what was +pointed out to me. When M. Zola discovered, too, that sundry +gentlemen--leaving wine to their wives and daughters--were addicted to +drinking whisky with their meals, he was yet more astonished, for he +claims that in France nowadays, greatly as the consumption of alcohol has +increased among the masses, it has declined almost to vanishing point +among people with any claim to culture. On this matter, however, I +reminded him that wine was often expensive in England, that beer +disagreed with many people, and that some who felt the need of a +stimulant were thus driven to whisky and water. + +When the master and Desmoulin wandered down to the Thames towing-path, +they found fresh food for observation and comment among the boating +fraternity. With some gay parties were damsels whose disregard for +decorum was strongly reminiscent of Asnieres and Joinville-le-Pont; and +it was slightly embarrassing to stroll near the river in the evening, +when at every few yards one found young couples exchanging kisses in the +shadows of the trees. After all it was surprise rather than embarrassment +which the exiles experienced, for they had scarcely imagined that English +training was conducive to such public endearments. + +At a later stage a bicycle was procured for the master, and he was then +able to extend his sphere of observation; but in the earlier days at +Oatlands his rambles were confined to the vicinity of Walton and +Weybridge. At the latter village he laid in a fresh stock of linen, and +was soon complaining of the exiguous proportions of English shirts. The +Frenchman, it should be remembered, is a man of many gestures, and +desires all possible freedom of action for his arms. His shirt is cut +accordingly, and a superabundance rather than a deficiency of material in +length as well as breadth is the result. But the English shirt-maker +proceeds upon different lines; he always seems afraid of wasting a few +inches of longcloth, and thus if the ordinary ready-made shirt on sale at +shops of the average class is dressy-looking enough, it is also often +supremely uncomfortable to those who like their ease. Such, at least, was +the master's experience; and in certain respects, said he, the English +shirt was not only uncomfortable, but indecorous as well. This astonished +him with a nation which claimed to show so much regard for the +proprieties. + +The desire to clothe himself according to his wont became so keen that M. +Desmoulin decided to make an expedition to Paris. All this time Mme. Zola +had remained alone at the house in the Rue de Bruxelles, outside which, +as at Medan (where the Zolas have their country residence), detectives +were permanently stationed. Mme. Zola was shadowed wherever she went, the +idea, of course, being that she would promptly follow her husband abroad. +She had, however, ample duties to discharge in Paris. At the same time +she much wished to send her husband a trunkful of clothes as well as the +materials for a new book he had planned, in order that he might have some +occupation in his sorrow and loneliness. + +Most people are by this time aware that M. Zola's gospel is work. In +diligent study and composition he finds some measure of solace for every +trouble. At times it is hard for him to take up the pen, but he forces +himself to do so, and an hour later he has largely banished sorrow and +anxiety, and at times has even dulled physical pain. He himself, heavy +hearted as he was when the first novelty of his strolls around Oatlands +had worn off, felt that he must have something to do, and was therefore +well pleased at the prospect of receiving the materials for his new book, +'Fecondite.' + +At that date he certainly did not imagine that the whole of this work +would be written in England, that his exile would drag on month after +month till winter would come and spring return, followed once more by +summer. In those days we used to say: 'It will all be over in a +fortnight, or three weeks, or a month at the latest;' and again and again +did our hopes alternately collapse and revive. Thus the few chapters of +'Fecondite,' which he thought he might be able to pen in England, +multiplied and multiplied till they at last became thirty--the entire +work. + +It was M. Desmoulin who brought the necessary materials--memoranda, +cuttings, and a score of scientific works--from Paris. And at the same +time he had a trunk with him full of clothes which had been smuggled in +small parcels out of M. Zola's house, carried to the residence of a +friend, and there properly packed. Desmoulin also brought a hand camera, +which likewise proved very acceptable to the master, and enabled him to +take many little photographs--almost a complete pictorial record of his +English experiences. + +During Desmoulin's absence the master remained virtually alone at +Oatlands, and as he still cared nothing for newspapers I sent him a few +books from my shelves, and, among others, Stendhal's 'La Chartreuse de +Parme.' He wrote me afterwards; 'I am very grateful to you for the books +you sent. Now that I am utterly alone they enabled me to spend a pleasant +day yesterday. I am reading "La Chartreuse." I am without news from +France. If you hear of anything really serious pray let me know about +it.' + +By this time proper arrangements had been made with regard to M. Zola's +correspondence. His exact whereabouts were kept absolutely secret even +from his most intimate friends. Everybody, his wife and Maitre Labori +also, addressed their letters to Wareham's office in Bishopsgate Street. +Here the correspondence was enclosed in a large envelope and redirected +to Oatlands. With regard to visitors Wareham and I had decided to give +the master's address to none. Wareham intended to take their cards, +ascertain their London address, and then refer the matter through me to +M. Zola. Later on, a regular supply of French newspapers was arranged, +and those journals were re-transmitted to the master by Wareham or +myself. + +On the other hand, I usually addressed M. Zola's letters for him to the +house of a trusty friend in Paris. This precaution was a necessary one, +as M. Zola's handwriting is so extremely characteristic and so well known +in France. And thus we were convinced that any letter arriving in Paris +addressed by him would immediately be sent to the 'Cabinet Noir,' where +all suspicious correspondence is opened by certain officials, who +immediately report the contents to the Government. + +It has been pretended that of recent years this secret service has been +abolished; but such is by no means the case. It flourishes to-day in the +same way as it flourished under the Second Empire, when Napoleon III. +made a point of acquainting himself with the private correspondence of +his own relatives, his ministers, and his generals. After the revolution +of September 1870, hundreds of copies of more or less compromising +letters, covert attacks on or criticisms of the Imperial Government, +_billets-doux_ also between Imperial princes and their mistresses, and so +forth, were found at the Palace of the Tuilleries; and some of them were +even published by a commission nominated by the Republican Government. + +Much of the same kind of thing goes on to-day, and M. Zola, when in Paris +during the earlier stages of the Dreyfus case, had made it a point to +trust no letter of the slightest importance to the Postal Service. On one +occasion, a short time after his arrival in England, we had reason to +fear that a letter addressed by me to Paris had gone astray, and all +correspondence on M. Zola's side was thereupon suspended for several +days. However, the missing letter turned up at last, and from that time +till the conclusion of the master's exile the arrangements devised +between him, Wareham, and myself worked without a hitch. + + + + VII + + EXCURSIONS AND ALARUMS + +Already at the time of M. Zola's arrival in London I had received a +summons to serve upon the jury at the July Sessions of the Central +Criminal court. I had been excused from service on a previous occasion, +but this time I had no valid excuse to offer, and it followed that I must +either serve or else pay such a fine as the Common Serjeant might direct. +There is always a certain element of doubt in these matters; and while I +might perhaps luckily escape service after a day or two, on the other +hand, I might be kept at the Old Bailey for more than a week. At any +other time I should have accepted my fate without a murmur; but I was +greatly worried as to what might befall M. Zola during my absence in +London, and I more than once thought of defaulting and 'paying up.' But +the master would not hear of it. He was now located at Oatlands, and felt +sure that he would have no trouble there. Moreover, said he, it would +always be possible for me to run down now and again of an evening, dine +with him, and attend to such little matters as might require my help. + +So, on the Monday morning when the sessions opened, I duly repaired to +town; and on the journey up, I saw in the 'Daily Chronicle' the +announcement of M. Zola's recent presence at the Grosvenor Hotel. This +gave me quite a shock. So the Press was on the right track at last! +Starting from the Grosvenor Hotel, might not the reporters trace the +master to Wimbledon, and thence to his present retreat? I had no time for +hesitation. My instructions, moreover, were imperative. For the benefit +of M. Zola personally, and for the benefit of the whole Dreyfus cause, I +had orders to deny everything. So I drove to the Press Association +offices, sent up a contradiction of the 'Daily Chronicle's' statement, +and then hurried up Ludgate Hill to the Court, where my name was soon +afterwards called. + +I found myself on the second or third jury got together, and that day I +was not empanelled. But on the morrow I was required to do duty; and +between then and the latter part of the week I sat upon four or five +cases--all crimes of violence, and one described in the indictment as +murder. This position was the more unpleasant for me, as I am, by strong +conviction, an adversary of capital punishment. I absolutely deny the +right of society to put any man or any woman to death, whatever be his or +her crime. My proper course then seemed to lie in the direction of a +public statement, which would have created, I suppose, some little +sensation or scandal; but happily the prosecuting counsel in his very +first words abandoned the count of murder for that of manslaughter, and I +was thereby relieved from my predicament. + +The cases on which I sat, and those to which I listened while I remained +in attendance, need not be particularised. I will merely mention that +they were nearly all due to drink. Mr. Justice Lawrance, who sat upon the +bench, was visibly impressed by the circumstance, to which he more than +once alluded in his summings up. In one case he was so good as to refer +to a question, put by me from the jury box, as a proper and pertinent +one, at which I naturally felt vastly complimented. On the second or +third day, either before the proceedings began or when the Court rose for +luncheon--I do not exactly remember which--a gentleman approached me, and +introduced himself as a member of the Press. Said he, 'I have been asking +Mr. Avory for you. You are Mr. Vizetelly, I believe?' + +'That is my name,' I answered. + +'Well, I have come to speak to you about M. Zola's presence in England.' + +I should here mention that, in spite of my contradiction of the +'Chronicle' story, there remained some people who had reason to believe +it. Moreover, it had been more or less confirmed by the 'Morning Leader,' +and some editors, rightly surmising that if M. Zola were in London he +would very likely be in communication with his usual translator, had +despatched reporters to my house, where my wife had seen them. On +learning that I was quietly during jury service at the Old Bailey, some +had apparently concluded that I was not concerned in M. Zola's movements, +which, so it happened, was the very conclusion I had desired them to +arrive at. One gentleman, however, not content with his repulse at my +house, had followed me to the Court. + +I answered his inquiries with a variety of suggestions. Zola in England, +and in London too! Well, we had heard that before, said I. But was it a +probable course for the novelist to take? He knew no English, and had but +few personal friends in England. His portraits, however, were in several +shops and in many newspapers. And only a few years previously he had been +seen by a thousand English pressmen and others. So would he not be liable +to recognition almost immediately? Now, the only modern language besides +French of which M. Zola had any knowledge was Italian. And if I were in +his place, I said, I should go to Italy--for instance, to one of the +little towns in the North, whence, if needful, one could cross over into +Switzerland; though, of course, there was little likelihood that the +Italian Government would ever surrender the distinguished writer to his +persecutors. + +Continuing in this strain I gave my interviewer material for a very +plausible article, which I remember was duly published, and which thus +helped to divert attention from the right scent. + +At the week-end, having given considerable time to jury duties, I was +compelled to spend Saturday morning in London on business, and in the +afternoon I allowed myself a few hours' relaxation. Reaching Wimbledon +about eight in the evening I called on Wareham, who received me with a +great show of satisfaction; for, said he, my services had been required +for some hours past and nobody had known where I might be. That day, it +seemed, just before Wareham had left his Bishopsgate Street office, he +had received a visit from a most singular-looking little Frenchman, who +had presented one of Maitre Labori's visiting cards and requested an +interview with M. Zola. Questioned as to his business, the only +explanation he would give was that he had with him a document in a sealed +envelope which he must place in M. Zola's own hands. Wareham had wired to +me on the matter, but owing to my absence from home had of course +received no reply. Then, on reaching Wimbledon, he had called on me and +found me out. And, finally, he had gone down to Oatlands and had there +seen M. Zola, who had handed him a note authorising Maitre Labori's +messenger to call at the hotel on the morrow. However, the messenger and +his manners had seemed very suspicious to Wareham--as, indeed, they +afterwards seemed to me--and the question arose, was he a genuine envoy, +was the writing on Maitre Labori's card perchance a forgery, and what was +the document in a sealed envelope which was to be handed to nobody but M. +Zola himself? Well, said I at a guess, perhaps it is a copy of the +Versailles judgment, and this is simply an impudent attempt to serve it. + +Wareham still had Zola's note in his possession, and we resolved to go to +town that evening to interview the messenger and extract from him some +decisive proof of his bona fides before allowing matters to go any +further. + +The envoy's address was the Salisbury Hotel, Salisbury Court, Fleet +Street, which I thought a curious one, being in the very centre of the +London newspaper district; and all the way up to town my suspicions of +having to do with a 'plant' steadily increased. It was quite ten o'clock +when we reached the hotel, and on inquiring for our party found that he +had gone to bed. + +'Well,' said Wareham, sharply, 'he must be roused. We must see him at +once.' + +I spoke to the same effect, and the hotel servants looked rather +surprised. I have an idea that they fancied we had come to arrest the +man. + +In about ten minutes he was brought downstairs. His appearance was most +unprepossessing. He was very short, with a huge head and a remarkable +shock of coal-black hair. Having hastily risen from bed, he had retained +his pyjamas, but a long frock-coat hung nearly to his slippers, and in +one hand he carried a pair of gloves, and in the other a huge eccentric +silk hat of the true chimney-pot type. These were details, and one might +have passed them over. But the man's face was sadly against him. He had +the slyest eyes I have ever seen; that peculiar shifty glance which +invariably sets one against an individual. And thus I became more and +more convinced that we had to deal with some piece of trickery. + +We entered the smoking-room where the gas was burning low. A gentleman +stopping at the hotel was snoring in solitary state in one of the arm +chairs. Reaching a table near a window we sat down and at once engaged in +battle. + +'I have not brought you a definite answer,' said Wareham to the envoy, +'but this gentleman is in M. Zola's confidence, and wishes further proof +of your bona fides before allowing you to see M. Zola.' + +Then I took up the tale, now in French, now in English, for the envoy +spoke both languages. Who was he? I asked. Did he claim to have received +Labori's card from Labori himself? What was the document in the envelope +which he would only deliver to M. Zola in person? And he replied that he +was a diamond-broker. Did I know So-and-So and So-and-So of Hatton +Garden? They knew him well, they did business with him; they could vouch +for his honorability. But no, I was not acquainted with So-and-So and +So-and-So. I never bought diamonds. Besides, it was ten o'clock on +Saturday night, and the parties mentioned were certainly not at their +offices for me to refer to them. + +Afterwards the little envoy began to speak of his family connections and +his Paris friends, mentioning various well-known names. But the proofs I +desired were not forth-coming; and when he finally admitted that he had +not received Maitre Labori's card from that gentleman himself, all my +suspicions revived. True he added that it had been given him by a +well-known Revisionist leader to whom Maitre Labori, in a moment of +emergency, having nobody of his own whom he could send abroad, had handed +it. + +But what was in the envelope? That was the great question. The envoy +could or would not answer it. He knew nothing certain on that point. Then +we--Wareham and I--brought forward our heavy artillery. We could not +allow a document to be handed to M. Zola under such mysterious +conditions. We must see it. But no, the envoy had strict instructions to +the contrary; he could not show it to us. In that case, we rejoined, he +might take it back to Paris. He had produced no proof of any of his +assertions; for all we knew he might have told us a fairy tale, and the +mysterious document might simply be a copy of the much dreaded judgment +of Versailles. This suggestion produced a visible impression on the +little man, and for half an hour we sat arguing the point. Finally he +began to compliment us: 'Oh! you guard him well!' he said. 'I shall tell +them all about it when I get back to Paris. But you do wrong to distrust +me; I am honourable. I am well known in Hatton Gardens. I have done +business there, ten, twelve years with So-and-So and So-and-So. I speak +the truth: you may believe me.' + +We shrugged our shoulders. For my part, I could not shake off the bad +impression which the envoy had made on me. The gleams of craft and +triumph which now and again I had detected in his eyes were not to my +liking. Assuredly few men are responsible for any physical repulsiveness; +we cannot all be 'Belvedere' Apollos; but then the envoy was not only of +the ugly, but also the cunning-looking class. Yet a more honourable man +never breathed. He at once thrust one hand into the depths of a capacious +inner pocket, produced the mysterious envelope, and opened it in our +presence. It contained simply a long letter from Maitre Labori, +accompanied by a document concerning the prosecution which had been +instituted with reference to the infamous articles that Ernest Judet, of +the 'Petit Journal,' had recently written, accusing Zola's father of +theft and embezzlement whilst he was a wardrobe officer in the French +Foreign Legion in Algeria. It was needful that Zola should see this +document, and return it by messenger to Paris immediately. + +The affair in question is still _sub judice_, and I must therefore speak +of it with some reticence. But all who are interested in M. Zola's origin +and career will do well to read the admirable volume written by M. +Jacques Dhur, and entitled 'Le Pere d'Emile Zola,' which the Societe +Libre d'Edition des Gens de Lettres (30, Rue Laffitte, Paris) published a +short time ago. This will show them how strong are the presumptions that +the documents cited by Judet in proof of his abominable charges are rank +forgeries--similar to those of Henry and Lemercier-Picard! In this +connection it afforded me much pleasure to be able to supply certain +extracts from Francesco Zola's works at the British Museum, showing how +subsequent to the date at which the novelist's father is alleged to have +purloined State money he was received with honour by King Louis-Philippe, +the Prince de Joinville, the Minister of War, and other high personages +of the time--incidents which all tend to establish the falsity of the +accusations by which Judet, in his venomous spite and malignity, hoped to +cast opprobrium on the parentage of my dear master and friend. + +But I must return to Maitre Labori's envoy. When I had seen the contents +of his envelope I heartily apologised to him for the suspicions which I +had cast upon his good faith. At this he smiled more maliciously and +triumphantly than ever, and then candidly remarked: 'Well, if you have +tested me, I have tested you, and I shall be able to tell all our friends +in Paris that M. Zola is in safe hands.' + +According to our previous agreement we re-sealed the envelope, writing +across it that it had been opened in the presence of Wareham and myself. +And afterwards our reconciliation also was 'sealed' over a friendly +glass. Nevertheless the envoy never saw M. Zola. M. Desmoulin luckily +turned up on the morrow, and, armed with a fresh note from the master, +persuaded our little French friend to hand him the documents. + +We left the Salisbury Hotel, Wareham and I, well pleased to find that our +suspicions had been unfounded. Nevertheless the whole conversation of the +last hour had left its mark on us; and, for my part, I was in much the +same state of mind as in the old days of the siege of Paris, when the spy +mania led to so many amusing incidents. Thus, the circumstance of finding +two persons at the corner of Salisbury Square as we left it--two persons +who were speaking in French and who eyed us very suspiciously--revived my +alarm. They even followed us along Fleet Street towards the Ludgate +Circus, and though we dodged them through the cavernous Ludgate Hill +Railway Station, across sundry courts and past the stores of Messrs. +Spiers and Pond, we again found them waiting for us on our return towards +the embankment, determined, so it seemed, to convoy us home. We hastened +our steps and they hastened theirs. We loitered, they loitered also. At +last Wareham made me dive into a side street and thence into a maze of +courts, and though the others seemed bent on following us, we at last +managed to give them the slip. + +I never saw these men again, but I have retained a strong suspicion that +no mere question of coincidence could explain that seeming pursuit. I +take it that the individuals had come over to England on the track of the +little French envoy; for it was after he had bidden us good-night outside +the Salisbury Hotel that they had turned to follow us. He had told us, +too, that earlier in the evening he had spent a hour smoking and +strolling about Salisbury Court whilst anxiously awaiting Wareham's +arrival with his promised answer. Whether these men were French police +spies, whether they were simply members of some swell mob who know that +the little gentleman with the huge head and the coal-black hair sometimes +journeyed to London with a fortune in diamonds in his possession, must +remain a mystery. As for Wareham and myself, when we had again reached +Fleet Street we hailed a passing hansom and drove away to Waterloo. + + + + VIII + + OTHER PERSONAL ADVENTURES + +I had another alarm a few days later. Returning one evening by train from +Waterloo, I was followed into the compartment I selected by a party of +five men, two of whom I recognised. One was the landlord of the Raynes +Park Hotel, now deceased, and the other his son. Their companions proved +to be Frenchmen, which somehow struck me as a curious circumstance. This +was the time when a letter addressed by me to Paris for M. Zola appeared +to have gone astray, and when we were therefore rather apprehensive of +some action on the part of the French authorities. Could it be that the +two Frenchmen who had followed me into the railway carriage in the +company of a local licensed victualler were actually staying at Raynes +Park, within half a mile of my home? And, if so, what could be their +purpose? + +I remained silent in my corner of the carriage, pretending to read a +newspaper; but on glancing up every now and then I fancied that I +detected one or another of the Frenchmen eyeing me suspiciously. They +conversed in French, either together or with the landlord's son--who +spoke their language, I found--on a variety of commonplace topics until +we had passed Earlsfield and were fast approaching Wimbledon. Then, all +at once, one of them inquired of the other: 'Shall we get out at +Wimbledon or Raynes Park?' + +'We'll see,' replied the other; and at the same time it seemed to me that +he darted a very expressive glance in my direction. + +I now began to feel rather nervous. It was my own intention to alight at +Wimbledon, as I had an important message from M. Zola to communicate to +Wareham that evening. But it now occurred to me that the best policy +might be to go straight home. If these men were French detectives, or +French newspaper men of the anti-Dreyfusite party, who by shadowing me +hoped to discover M. Zola's retreat, it would be most unwise for me to go +to Wareham's. If once the latter's name and address should be ascertained +by detectives, communications between M. Zola and his friends would be +jeopardised. On the other hand, of course, I might be mistaken with +regard to the men; and before all else I ought to make sure whether they +really had any hostile intentions. So I resolved to leave the train at +Wimbledon, as I had originally proposed doing, and then shape my course +by theirs. + +As soon as the train pulled up I rose to alight, and at that same moment +the Frenchman who had said 'We'll see,' exclaimed to his companion: +'Well, I think we will got out here.' + +I waited to hear no more. I rushed off, threw my ticket to an inspector, +climbed the steps from the platform, descended another flight into the +station-yard, hurried into the Hill Road, and did not pause until I +reached the first turning on the right. This happened to be the Alexandra +Road, in which Wareham's local office is situated. + +Then I turned round and, sure enough, I saw the two Frenchmen, the +licensed victualler and his son, deliberately coming towards me. +Forthwith, under cover of a passing vehicle, I crossed the street to the +corner of St. George's Road, which offered a convenient, shady retreat. +Then I awaited developments. To my great relief the party of four went +straight on up the Hill Road. + +Nevertheless, this might only be a feint, and I hesitated about going to +Wareham's immediately. Before anything, I had better let those suspicious +Frenchmen get right away. So I retraced my steps towards the station, and +entered the saloon bar of the South-Western Hotel. There I found a +foreign gentleman, whether French or Italian I do not know, whom I had +previously met about Wimbledon on various occasions. A short, rather +stout, and elderly man, formerly, I believe, in business in London, and +now living on his income, he had more than once spoken to me of the +Dreyfus case, Zola, Esterhazy, and all the others. And on this particular +evening he approached me with a smile, and inquired if there were any +truth in the reports he had heard to the effect that M. Zola had lately +been seen in Wimbledon. + +Nervous as I was at that moment, I was about to give him a sharp reply, +when the door of the saloon bar opened, and to my intense alarm in +marched the two Frenchmen who had already inspired me with so much +distrust. Their friends were behind them; and I could only conclude that +my movements had somehow been observed by them, and that now I was +virtually caught, like a rat in a trap. + +I was the more startled, too, when my foreign acquaintance (about whom I +really knew very little) abruptly quitted me to accost the new comers. +But this gave me breathing time. The door was free, and so, leaving the +refreshment I had ordered untouched, I bolted out of the house in much +the same way as a thief might have done, and ran, as if for my life, +right down the Alexandra Road until I reached Wareham's office. And there +I seized the knocker in a frenzy, and made such a racket as might have +awakened the dead. The door suddenly opened, and I fell into the arms of +Everson, Wareham's managing clerk. + +'Great Scott!' said he. 'What is the matter? You've nearly brought the +house down!' + +'Shut the door!' I replied. 'Shut the door!' + +'But what has happened to you?' + +I had seated myself on the stairs, and a full minute went by before I +could begin my story. Then I told Everson all that had befallen me. Some +Frenchmen were on Zola's track; they must be the very same men who had +shadowed Wareham and myself from the Salisbury Hotel some nights +previously; and now they were in Wimbledon, having heard, no doubt, that +M. Zola had been seen there. Wareham must be warned of it. Every +precaution must be taken; we must remove our charge from Oatlands, and so +forth. + +Everson puffed away at his pipe and listened meditatively. At last he +remarked, 'Well, it is a curious business if what you say is true. What +were these Frenchmen like?' + +Forthwith I began to describe them as accurately as I could. The first +likeness I sketched must have been a faithful one, for Everson started, +and exclaimed, 'And the other. Was he not so-and-so and so-and-so?' + +'Yes, he was. But how do you know that?' I rejoined, with considerable +surprise. + +'Why, because I know who the men are! Although you saw them with Mr. +Savage of the Raynes Park Hotel, it doesn't follow that they are staying +at Raynes Park. As a matter of fact they live here in this very road. +They have been here I daresay, eight or nine months now. And as for being +detectives, my dear sir, they are musicians!' + +'You don't mean it!' + +I collapsed again. To think that out of a mere chain of chance +coincidences I should have forged a perfect melodramatic intrigue! To +think that I should have let my fancy run away with me in such a fashion, +and have worked myself into such a state of nervousness and alarm! I +could not help feeling a trifle ashamed. 'Well,' I pleaded, 'for my part, +I had never seen the men before, either in Wimbledon or elsewhere. Of +course, I am short-sighted, and my eyes sometimes play me tricks; +however, as you are sure--' + +'Sure!' repeated Everson; and again he described the men in such a way as +to convince me that there was no mistake in the matter. 'Moreover,' he +added, 'I saw them go past the house this very morning when they went up +to town.' + +'Well,' I rejoined, 'I suppose I am losing my head. Ten minutes ago I +could have sworn that those men were after me.' + +'Your statement that you never saw them before,' said Everson, 'does not +surprise me. As a rule they go to town every morning, and as you are +seldom in Wimbledon in the evening you can't very well meet one another.' + +'I suppose you regard me as a bit of a fool?' I inquired. + +'Oh, no. The circumstances were curious enough, and in your place I might +have drawn the same conclusions. Only I don't think I should have hurried +off to a friend's house and have nearly "knocked" it down.' + +We both laughed, and then I apologised. + +'As a matter of fact,' said I, 'all this is the natural outcome of +events. The beginning was long ago. I have a secret which I find haunting +me when I get up in the morning; all day long it occupies my mind; at +night it clings to me and follows me through my sleep. And I grow more +and more suspicious; it seems as if everybody I meet has designs upon my +secret. Every Frenchman I don't know is a detective or a process server +with a copy of the Versailles judgment in his pockets. And thus I shall +soon become a monomaniac if I do not discover some remedy. I think I +shall try the shower-bath system.' + +Then I recalled experiences dating from long prior to M. Zola's arrival +in England. First mysterious offers of important documents bearing on the +Dreyfus case--documents forged a la Lemercier-Picard, hawked about by +adventurers who tried to dispose of them, now in Paris, now in Brussels, +and now in London. Needless to say that I, like others, had rejected them +with contempt. Then had come an incident that Everson already know of: a +stranger with divers aliases beseeching me for private interviews in M. +Zola's interest, a request which I ultimately granted, and which led to a +rather curious experience. I had declined to see my correspondent alone, +and had given him the address of Wareham, who had been present at the +interview. And at first the stranger, a tall and energetic looking man, +with sunburnt face and heavy moustaches, had refused to disclose his +business in Wareham's presence. If at last he did so, it was solely +because I told him that before coming to any decision in the matters +which he might have to submit to me I should certainly lay them before my +solicitor. So the result would be the same, whether he spoke out before +Wareham or not. And Wareham very properly added that a solicitor was, in +a measure, a confessor bound to observe professional secrecy. + +At last the man told us his business, and it proved to be a scheme for +rescuing Dreyfus from Devil's Island and carrying him to an American +port. Neither Wareham nor myself was able to take the matter seriously, +but our visitor spoke with great earnestness, as though he already saw +the suggested feat accomplished. He had a ship at his disposal, and a +crew also. He gave particulars about both. If I remember rightly, the +ship lay at Bristol. He knew Cayenne and Devil's Island, and Royal +Island, and so forth. He was convinced of the practicability of the +venture, he had weighed all the _pros_ and _cons_, and it rested with +Dreyfus's friends and relatives to decide whether or no he (the prisoner) +should be a free man within another six weeks. + +Wareham laughed. He was thinking of 'Captain Kettle,' and said so. But +the would-be rescuer protested that all this was no romancing. Oh! he was +not a philanthropist, he should expect to be well paid for his services; +but the Dreyfus family was rich, and M. Zola, too, was a man of means. So +surely they would not begrudge the necessary funds to release the unhappy +prisoner from bondage. + +But I replied that though the Dreyfus family and M. Zola also were +anxious to see Dreyfus free, they were yet more anxious to prove his +innocence. Personally I knew nothing of the Dreyfus family, and could +give no letter of introduction to any member of it, such as I was asked +for. And, as regards M. Zola, I was sufficiently acquainted with his +character to say that he would never join in any such enterprise. He +intended to pursue his campaign by legal means alone, and it was useless +to refer the matter to him. + +Then the interview ended rather abruptly. A French client of Wareham's +happened to call at that very moment, and was heard speaking in French in +the hall. This seemed to alarm the stranger, who ceased pressing his +request that I should give him letters of introduction to prominent +Dreyfusites. He rose abruptly, saying that the time would come when we +should probably regret having refused to entertain his proposals, and +hurrying past the waiting French client he ran off down the Alexandra +Road in much the same way as I myself subsequently ran off from the +French 'detectives' who were simply harmless disciples of St. Cecilia. + +To this day I do not know whether the man was a lunatic, an imposter +seeking money, or an _agent provocateur_, that is, one who imagined that +he might through me inveigle M. Zola into an illegal act which would lead +to prosecution and imprisonment. The last-mentioned status that I have +ascribed to my interviewer is by no means an impossible one, considering +the many dastardly attempts made to discredit and ruin M. Zola. And yet, +suspicious and abrupt as was the man's leave-taking when he heard French +being spoken outside Wareham's private room (where the interview took +place), I nowadays think it more charitable to assume that he was a +trifle crazy. One thing is certain, he had come to the wrong person in +applying to me to aid and abet him in the foolhardy enterprise he spoke +of. + +This is the first time I have told this anecdote in any detail; but at +the period when the incident occurred I spoke of it casually to a few +friends, to which circumstance I am inclined to attribute the earlier +paragraphs which appeared in the newspapers about American schemes for +delivering Dreyfus. The person whom I saw was, I believe, a +German-American. + +Well, this incident, preposterous as it may appear (but truth, remember, +is quite as fantastic as fiction), had proved another link in the chain +of suspicious occurrences in which I had been mixed up prior to M. Zola's +exile. Other curious little incidents had followed, and thus for many +months I had been living--even as we lived long ago in besieged Paris--in +distrust of all strangers, and the climax had come with my foolish fears +respecting a couple of French musicians. The story I have told goes +against me, but the man who cannot tell a story against himself when he +thinks it a good one can have, I think, little grit in his composition. + +From the time of my adventure with the French musicians I steeled myself +against excessive fears whilst remaining duly vigilant. On one point I +was still anxious, which was that M. Zola should be able to settle down +in a convenient retreat where him himself would enjoy all necessary +quietude; whilst we, Wareham and I, knowing him to be well screened from +his enemies, would be less liable to those 'excursions and alarums' which +had hitherto troubled us. As the next chapter will show, this +consummation was near at hand. + + + + IX + + A QUIET HOME AND A HAUNTED HOUSE + +It was M. Zola himself who, after some stay at Oatlands, discovered, in +the course of his excursions with M. Desmoulin, a retreat to his liking. +It was a house in that part of Surrey belonging to a city merchant, who +was willing to let it furnished for a limited period. The owner met M. +Zola on various occasions and showed himself both courteous and discreet. + +The details of the 'letting' were arranged between him and Mr. Wareham; +and my wife hastily procured servants for the new establishment. These +servants, however, did not speak French, and I settled with M. Zola that +my eldest daughter, Violette, should stay with him to act in some measure +as his housekeeper and interpreter. This was thrusting a young girl, not +quite sixteen, into a position of considerable responsibility, but I +thought that Violette would be equal to the task, provided she followed +the instructions and advice of her mother; and as she was then at home +for the summer holidays she was sent down to M. Zola's without more ado. + +I shall have occasion to speak of her hereafter in some detail, in +connection with a very curious incident which marked M. Zola's exile. +Here I will merely mention that a Parisienne by birth and speaking French +from her infancy, it was easy for her to understand and explain the +master's requirements. + +Like M. Zola, she was provided with a bicycle, and the pair of them +occasionally spent an afternoon speeding along leafy Surrey lanes and +visiting quaint old villages. The mornings, however, were devoted to +work, for it was now that M. Zola started on his novel, 'Fecondite,' the +first of a series of four volumes, which will be, he considers, his +literary testament. + +These books, indeed, are to embody what he regards as the four cardinal +principles of human life. First Fruitfulness, as opposed to +neo-Malthusianism, which he holds to be the most pernicious of all +doctrines; next Work, as opposed to the idleness of the drones, whom he +would sweep away from the human community; then Truth, as opposed to +falsehood, hypocrisy, and convention; and, finally, Justice to one and +all, in lieu of charity to some, oppression to others, and favours for +the privileged few. + +All four books--'Fruitfulness,' 'Work,' 'Truth,' and 'Justice'--are to be +stories; for years ago M. Zola arrived at the conclusion that mere essays +on sociology, though they may work good in time among people of culture, +fail to reach and impress the masses in the same way as a story may do. +It is, I take it, largely on this account that Emile Zola has become a +novelist. He has certainly written essays, but he knows how +inconsiderable have been their sales in comparison with those of his +works embodying precisely the same principles, but placed before the +world in the form of novels. To criticise him as a mere story-teller is +arrant absurdity. + +He himself put the whole case in a nutshell when he remarked, 'My novels +have always been written with a higher aim than merely to amuse. I have +so high an opinion of the novel as a means of expression that I have +chosen it as the form in which to present to the world what I wish to say +on the social, scientific, and psychological problems that occupy the +minds of thinking men. I might have said what I wanted to say to the +world in another form. But the novel has to-day risen from the place +which it held in the last century at the banquet of letters. It was then +the idle pastime of the hour, and sat low down between the fable and the +idyll. To-day it contains, or may be made to contain, everything; and it +is because that is my creed that I am a novelist. I have, to my thinking, +certain contributions to make to the thought of the world on certain +subjects, and I have chosen the novel as the best means of communicating +these contributions to the world.' + +If critics in reviewing one or another of M. Zola's books would only bear +these declarations of the author in mind, the reading public would often +be spared many irrelevant and foolish remarks. + +M. Zola's device is _Nulla dies sine linea_, and even before the +materials for 'Fecondite' were brought to him from France he had given an +hour or two each day to the penning of notes and impressions for +subsequent use. With the arrival of his books and memoranda, work began +in a more systematic way. At half-past eight every morning he partook of +a cup of coffee and a roll and butter, no more, and shortly after nine he +was at his table in a small room overlooking the garden of the house he +had rented. And there he remained regularly, hard at work, until the +luncheon hour, covering sheet after sheet of quarto paper with serried +lines of his firm, characteristic handwriting. + +M. Zola has retained possession of the MSS. of almost every work written +by him, and I know that these MSS. often differ largely from the books +actually given to the world. The 'copy' is not only extremely clear, but +remarkably free from erasures and interpolations. But when his first +proofs reach him M. Zola revises them with the greatest care. He will +strike out whole passages in the most drastic manner, and alter others +until they are almost unrecognisable. + +He will even at the last moment change some character's name, and I know +all the inconvenience that arises on certain occasions from having had to +prepare portions of my translations from first proofs, through lack of +time to wait for the corrected matter. + +This was notably the case with my version of 'Paris.' While that work was +passing through the Press M. Zola was already in all the throes of the +Dreyfus affair, and somehow, as he has acknowledged to me with regret, he +forgot to tell me that at the last moment he had changed the names of +several personages in the story. Thus Duthil (as originally written and +given in my translation) became Dutheil in the French book; Sagnier was +changed to Sanier; the Princess de Horn was renamed Harn and finally +Harth, and young Lord George Eliott became Elson. + +Of course some of the reviewers of my translations attacked me virulently +for my unwarrantable presumption in changing the very names of M. Zola's +characters; they were unaware that the names given by me were those first +selected by the author, who had afterwards altered them and forgotten to +tell me of it. + +Coming back to 'Fecondite,' I should say that M. Zola wrote an average of +three pages per day of that book during his exile in England. Work ceased +at the luncheon hour, as I have said, and consequently he could dispose +of his afternoons. + +But it will be remembered that the summer of 1898 was exceptionally hot, +so hot indeed that M. Zola, though many years of his childhood were spent +under the scorching sun of Provence, found a siesta absolutely necessary +after the midday meal. It was only later that he ventured out on foot or +on his bicycle, often taking his hand camera with him. + +At some distance from the house where he was residing, in the midst of +large deserted grounds, overrun with grass and weeds, there stood a +mournful-looking, unoccupied private residence of some architectural +pretensions, on the building of which a considerable sum had evidently +been expended. The place took M. Zola's fancy the first time he passed it +on his bicycle. The iron entrance gate was broken, and he was able to +enter the garden and peep through the ground-floor windows. + +All spoke of decay and abandonment; and when, through my daughter, M. +Zola began to make inquiries about the place, he was told a fantastic +tragic story. A murder, it was said, had been committed there many years +previously; a poor little girl had been killed by her stepmother, and her +remains had been buried beneath a scullery floor. + +There was also talk of the child's father, who at night drove up to the +house in a phantom carriage drawn by ghostly horses, and hammered at the +door of the mansion and shouted aloud for his dead child! + +The story was alleged to be well known, and it was said that not a girl +from Chertsey to Esher, from Walton to Byfleet, would have dared to pass +that house after nightfall, when harrowing voices rang out through the +trees, and the shadowy horses of the ghostly carriage trotted swiftly and +silently over the gravel. + +The story not only impressed my daughter Violette, but it greatly +interested M. Zola, on whose behalf I made various inquiries. For +instance, I closely questioned an old gardener who had known the district +for long years. All he could tell me, however, was that there were +certainly some strange rumours abroad among the womenfolk, but that for +his own part he had never heard of any crime and had never seen any +ghost. + +And at last others told me quite a different story of the house's +abandonment, and this I here venture to give, though I certainly cannot +vouch for its accuracy. The place had been built, it seemed, some forty +years previously by a retired and wealthy London pawnbroker, a gaunt, +shrivelled old man, who, mounted on a white mare, had in his declining +years been a familiar figure on the roads of the district. + +Extremely eccentric, he had largely furnished and decorated the house +with unredeemed articles that had been pledged with him. There was +nothing _en suite_. Old chairs of divers patterns were mingled with odd +tables and sideboards and sofas; there were also innumerable daubs +'ascribed' to old masters, and a wonderful display of Wardour-street +_bric-a-brac_. But, indeed, one has only to look at an average +pawnbroker's shop to picture what kind of articles the house must have +contained. + +It seems that the old fellow in question had three daughters, whom he +kept more or less imprisoned on his recently-acquired property, though +they were charming girls well worthy of being sought in marriage; and the +story I heard was that three officers sojourning in the district had one +day espied the three forlorn damsels over the garden hedge, and had +forthwith begun to court them, much to the ire of the misanthropic, +retired pawnbroker. That stern old gentleman ordered his daughters into +the house, and then kept them in stricter confinement than ever. + +But love laughs at locksmiths, and the amorous officers eventually +carried the place by storm, and beat down all parental resistance. Three +weddings followed on the same day, and all ended for a time as in a fairy +tale. But the old pawnbroker subsequently married again to relieve his +solitude, and after his death his will was attacked, and an interminable +lawsuit ensued, with the result that the property was left unoccupied. +Now, it appeared, it was for sale, and before long would probably be cut +up into building plots. + +Whatever romantic element there might be in the story of the pawnbroker +and his daughters, M. Zola much preferred the popular and gruesome legend +of the little girl murdered in the scullery; and, some time later, when +he consented to write a short story for 'The Star,' it was this legend +which he took as his basis, building thereon the pathetic sketch of +'Angeline,' the scene of which he transferred to France. + +He has stated in his article 'Justice,' published in Paris on his return +from exile, that during most of the time he spent in England he was +virtually in a desert. There were people about him of course; but he +retired into himself as it were, communing with his own thoughts, and +seeking no intercourse with strangers. This is true of the period to +which I am now referring. Still he did not complain of solitude. In fact +he knew that quiet was essential for his work. Only once or twice did +anything happen of a nature to cause any anxiety. Neither Wareham nor +myself was much troubled at this period; there was a lull even in the +periodical visits which gentlemen of the Press kindly favoured me. + +Still we had taken our precautions by admitting a mutual friend, Mr. A. +W. Pamplin, into our confidence. If M. Zola's communications with Paris, +through Wareham and myself, should be threatened, Mr. Pamplin was to take +upon himself the duty of re-establishing them. + +At M. Zola's house there was, so far as I am aware, but one brief +_alerte_. This occurred one afternoon, when a servant came to my daughter +with the tidings that there was a French hunchback at the door. Violette +impulsively rushed off to tell M. Zola of it; but when in her turn she +went to the door to see who the person might be, she found that he was an +Englishman, a traveller for some county directory, who had merely +performed his legitimate work in requesting to know the name of the +occupier of the house. Of course the only name given was that of the +owner, then absent at the seaside. + +Thus the hot days sped by peacefully enough. M. Zola had at least found +occupation and quietude, though it was naturally impossible that he +should feel content with his lot. Each day brought more and more home to +him the consciousness that he was in exile, and that contumely had been +his reward for seeking to save France from the shame of a great crime. + +I have previously mentioned that during the first week or so of his +sojourn in England he had refused to look at newspapers and--at least so +it seemed to me--had sought to banish the Dreyfus affair and his own +troubles from his mind, much as one might seek to drive away a hateful +nightmare. But before long he again fell under the spell and followed the +course of events with the keenest interest. And again and again, reading +of the great battle being waged in France, he longed to return home, and +grew restless and impatient. + +Moreover a complaint from which he has suffered on and off for some years +troubled him on more than one occasion. He always rallied, however, and +returned to his work with renewed energy. 'Fecondite' was already taking +shape in the leafy solitude in which he dwelt. And undoubtedly the steady +task of creation, resumed morning by morning, greatly helped him to quiet +the anguish of heart which the course of events in France would otherwise +have rendered intolerable. + + + NOTE.--While this work was appearing serially in the 'Evening + News' I received numerous letters from readers interested in + various matters mentioned by me. With respect to the foregoing + chapter, a lady living at Staines wrote saying that she was + looking out for 'a cheap haunted house,' and asking for the + address of the one I had mentioned. I was unable to comply with + her request, as personally I do not believe the house was haunted + at all. Moreover, to prevent the sale or letting of any particular + house by asserting it to be haunted would be an offence under the + libel laws. As I could not tell what course my lady-correspondent + might take in the matter, I preferred not to answer her. May she + forgive me my impoliteness! + + + + X + + 'LE REVE': THE DREAM + +When the owner of the house which M. Zola had rented desired to resume +possession, it became necessary to find new quarters of a similar +character for the master. And so he was transferred to another Surrey +country house where the arrangements remained much the same as +previously: work every morning, resting or bicycling in the afternoon, +followed by newspaper reading and letter-writing in the evening. + +The grounds of M. Zola's new retreat were very extensive, and in part +very shady, which last circumstance proved extremely welcome to the +novelist, who on coming to 'cold, damp, foggy England,' as the French put +it, had never imagined that he would have to endure a temperature +approaching that of the tropics. + +The heat deprived him of appetite, and, moreover, he did not particularly +relish some of the dishes provided for him by a new cook who had lately +been engaged. We all know how great is the servant difficulty even under +the best of circumstances; and when cooks and maids have to be secured in +hot haste an entirely satisfactory result is hardly to be expected. +Moreover, many servants refuse to live in country retirement, far away +from their 'followers,' and thus one has at times to take such as one can +find. + +As for the cookery to which M. Zola was at certain periods treated, he +beheld it with wonder and repulsion. His tastes are simple, but to him +the plain, boiled, watery potato and the equally watery greens were +abominations. Plum tart, though served hot (why not cold, like the French +_tarte_?) might be more or less eatable; but, surely, apple pudding--the +inveterate breeder of indigestion--was the invention of a savage race. +And why, when a prime steak was grilled, should the cook water it in +order to produce 'gravy,' instead of applying to it a little butter and +chopped parsley? This, Dundreary-wise, was one of those things which +nobody, not even M. Zola, could understand. + +However, a visit to a fishmonger's shop had made him acquainted with the +haddock, the kipper, and likewise the humble bloater; and occasionally, I +believe, when his appetite needed a stimulant he turned to the smoked +fish, which seemed so novel to his palate. The cook, of course, was +mightily incensed thereat. For her part, she most certainly would not eat +haddock or kippers for dinner; she had too much self-respect to do such a +thing, so she boiled or roasted a leg of mutton for her own repast and +the maids'. I do not say that she was wrong; and, indeed, M. Zola never +forced people to eat what they did not care for. + +But in the same way he wished for something that he himself could eat, +and he was weary of the perpetual joint and the vegetables _a l'eau_. One +day, when in a jocular spirit he was talking to me on this subject, I +told him that we English had a saying to the effect that 'God sent us +food, but the devil invented cooks.' + +'You are quite right,' he replied, 'only as a Frenchman I should put it +this way: "God sent us food, but the devil invented English cooks."' + +Towards the end of August he again became very dispirited. The 'cause' +did not at that time appear to be prospering in France, where so many +people remained under the spell of the deceptive declarations and +documents which had been made public in the Chamber of Deputies by War +Minister Cavaignac early in July. + +Of course the Revisionists were still hard at work, but in the face of M. +Cavaignac's speech, placarded throughout the 36,000 townships of France, +they seemed to have a very uphill task before them. The anti-Dreyfusites +on their side were more arrogant than ever, and although M. Zola never +once lost faith in the justice of his cause and its ultimate triumph, he +did, on more than one occasion, question whether that triumph would come +in a peaceful way. + +Felix Faure was then still President of the Republic, and I am abusing, I +think, no confidence in saying that M. Zola regarded that vain, showy man +as one of the great obstacles to the victory of truth and justice. Faure, +he said to me, had undoubtedly at one time enjoyed well-deserved +popularity; he, Zola, had been received by him and in the most cordial +manner. But the President's intercourse with crowned heads, and his +intimacy with arrogant general officers, coupled with all the flummery of +the Protocole, all the pomp and display observed whenever he stirred from +the Palace of the Elysee, had virtually turned his head. He was in the +hands of those military men who opposed revision, and he shielded them +because their downfall would mean his own. He was bent on the hushing-up +course lest his Presidency should become synonymous with a great judicial +crime; he feared that he might be forced to resign even before his term +of office was over, or, at all events, that he might have to abandon all +hope of re-election. + +And thus with the President and the more prominent generals opposed to +revision, M. Zola, though confident in the final issue, more than once +said to me that there might be serious trouble before all was over. + +He was now kept very well informed of all that took place in France; +intelligence often reached him before it appeared in the newspapers; and +now and again he told me what was brewing. Going backward, too, he +confided to me some curious particulars of the genesis of the Revisionist +campaign. But he will himself some day tell all this in a book of his +own, and I must not anticipate him. I will only say that various +important things he mentioned to me in the autumn of 1898 have since +become well-known, acknowledged facts, and I have every reason to believe +that time will duly show the accuracy of those which have not as yet been +publicly revealed. + +There is one point to which I must refer at more length. In his +declaration 'Justice,' published on the expiration of his exile, M. Zola +stated that he had long suspected Colonel Henry, though he had possessed +no actual proof of that officer's guilt. This is so true, that I well +recollect listening to a conversation between him and M. Desmoulin during +the first days of their sojourn in England, when they compared notes with +respect to their impressions of Henry, whom they had particularly noticed +at Versailles on the occasion of M. Zola's sentence by default. + +They had then observed how nervous and crestfallen the colonel +looked--the very picture, indeed, of a man who dreads the discovery of +his guilt. This was the more remarkable, as Henry's confident arrogance +at the earlier trial in Paris had been so conspicuous. The man had a +skeleton in his cupboard--to Zola and Desmoulin that was certain. + +M. Zola is a good physiognomist, and his friend (as a portraitist) is +scarcely less gifted in that respect, and they felt equally certain of +Henry's culpability. As yet they could not say that it was he who had +actually forged that famous 'absolute proof' of Dreyfus's guilt, which +they knew to have been forged by some one, but that time would prove him +guilty of some abominable machination was to them a foregone conclusion. + +One day, it must have been I suppose the 31st of August, a rather strange +telegram in French reached me for transmission to M. Zola. It came from +Paris, and was, so far as I remember, to this effect: 'Be prepared for a +great success.' + +A name I was acquainted with followed; but what the telegram might mean I +knew not. There was absolutely nothing in the newspapers with reference +to any great success achieved at that moment by the Revisionist party; +but possibly the message might refer to one or another of M. Zola's +lawsuits, such as that with the 'Petit Journal' or that with the +handwriting experts. I re-telegraphed it to M. Zola, and that day, at all +events, I thought no more of the matter. + +But I afterwards learnt that the telegram had perplexed him quite as much +as it perplexed me. A great success? What could it be? He racked his mind +in vain. He reviewed all the phases and aspects of the Dreyfus case, +wondering whether this or that had happened, but not suspecting the +public revelations which were then impending, the tragedy which was being +enacted. + +For a while he walked up and down, feverish and anxious (he was at the +time in poor health), and then he would fling himself on a sofa, still +and ever indulging in his surmises. With that kind of prescience which he +had so frequently displayed in the Dreyfus affair, he felt certain that +something very important had occurred, for otherwise such a mysterious +telegram would never have been sent him. This lasted the whole evening. + +My daughter Violette was with him at the time, and his feverishness +doubtless gained on her. At last she retired to rest, while M. Zola, +according to his wont, carried a lamp into his own room to sit there a +while and read some French newspapers which had reached him, via Wareham, +by the evening delivery. There was nothing in them of a nature to explain +the mysterious telegram; still he read on and on in the hope, as it were, +of quieting himself. + +It was, I believe, between eleven o'clock and midnight when he rose to go +to bed, and as he did so he heard some loud exclamations, followed by a +cry. At first he fancied that the calls came from one of the servants' +rooms, and he paused on the landing. Then, however, as they were +repeated, he found that they came from my daughter's apartment. With +fatherly solicitude he waited and listened. Violette was calling in her +sleep. + +Practical enough in matters of everyday life, this girl of mine has +literary partialities of a somewhat gruesome kind, and her avowed +ambition (I quote her own words) is to write, some day, stories full of +witches and wizards, that shall make people's flesh creep. For this +reason I keep such of Anne Radcliffe's uncanny novels as I possess +carefully locked up. + +I can well remember my daughter telling me at times of strange things +dreamt by her in her sleep; but not of being of a romantic or a mystical +turn myself, I have usually pooh-poohed all this as nonsense. And such I +believe is the course which fathers usually adopt if their daughters' +imaginations begin to run riot. + +As for M. Zola, when he heard Violette calling in her sleep, his first +impulse was to rouse her, but all suddenly became still again. The girl +had probably sunk into a more peaceful slumber. And so, after waiting a +few minutes longer, he thought it best to leave her as she was. + +Nothing further disturbed M. Zola that night; but on the following +morning, when he met Violette downstairs, he asked her how she felt, and +told her that he had heard her calling in her sleep. He had probably +formed the same opinion as I should have formed under the circumstances, +namely, that it was a case of indigestion or a little excitement. + +But she turned to him and replied, 'Oh! I had such a frightful dream. . . +I was in a big black place, and there was a man on the ground covered +with blood, and people were crowding round him, talking with great +excitement. And I saw you, Monsieur Zola, and you came up looking like a +giant and waved your arms again and again, and seemed well pleased.' + +M. Zola was dumbfounded. He could make nothing of it. A man in a pool of +blood and others round him; and he, Zola, waving his arms and looking +well pleased! It was nonsense; and he was disposed to laugh at the girl +and chide her. But a little later, with the arrival of some morning +newspapers, the position suddenly changed. + +Here I should mention that as the Paris journals only reached M. Zola +with a delay of twelve or four-and-twenty hours, it had just been +arranged that he should be supplied with two or three London papers every +morning, and that he and Violette between them should put the telegrams +concerning the Dreyfus business into French. + +He opened one of these English newspapers--which it was I do not +recollect--and there he saw a whole column dealing with the arrest and +confession of Colonel Henry. The heading to the telegrams, the very words +'arrest' and 'confession,' made everything intelligible to M. Zola; and +beneath all this came a brief wire headed, I think, 'Paris, midnight,' +and worded much to this effect: 'Colonel Henry has been found dead in his +cell at Mont Valerien.' + +So that was the man whom Violette, in her dream, had seen weltering in a +pool of blood, surrounded by his custodians, who had rushed in full of +excitement! M. Zola's presence in that vision was, so to say, symbolical. +'He had waved his arms and had seemed well pleased'--so the girl had put +it in her frank, artless way. 'Well pleased' may perhaps appear to be +scarcely the correct expression. At all events, it needs to be +interpreted. Most certainly Zola never desired the death of a sinner; +but, on the other hand, he could only feel some satisfaction at knowing +that Henry's crime was at last divulged to the world. + +This, then, is how my daughter dreamt Henry's death. I do not wish to +insist unduly on the incident, and I have no intention of appealing to +the Psychical Research Society to test, corroborate, or disprove the +case. + +There was one rather curious feature that I have not yet mentioned. My +daughter has assured me that during the same night she dreamt the same +thing over and over again. She tried to banish the vision, but ever and +ever it returned, as if to impress itself indelibly upon her mind. And +ever did she see M. Zola waving his arms as he hovered round the scene. + +At that time the girl knew nothing of Colonel Henry; she understood very +little about the Dreyfus case; and all she had to go upon was the +enigmatical telegram and M. Zola's talk during the evening, when he was +expressing his thoughts aloud. But at that moment he had foreseen no +death, murder, or suicide, and if the possibility of any arrest had +occurred to him it was that of M. du Paty de Clam, which the Revisionist +papers were then demanding. + +It is true that in infancy my daughter had often seen Mont Valerien, as I +lived for some years at Boulogne-sur-Seine, and the hill and fortress +towering across the river were then familiar objects to us all. But the +girl was little more than a baby at the time, and so this circumstance +can have exercised no influence upon her. Moreover, she has told me that +she had no notion as to what might be the actual scene of her dream; it +merely appeared to her that she was in France, because the people she saw +raised ejaculations in French. + +Passing from this incident, I may point out that the telegram sent to M. +Zola through me was explained by the news in the English newspapers. It +was evident that the 'great success' referred to in the message was the +discovery of Henry's forgery and possibly his arrest. + +Directly I saw the news in a London newspaper I hurried off to M. Zola's, +and when I reached his abode about noon I found him expecting me. We then +went over matters together, the press telegrams, my daughter's dream and +the probable outcome of the whole affair. + +As was natural, M. Zola was quite excited. First, the document which +Henry had confessed to having forged was the very one that General de +Pellieux had imported into the Zola trial in Paris as convincing proof of +Dreyfus's guilt. At that time already its effect had been very great; it +had destroyed all chance of M. Zola's acquittal. Then, too, it had been +solemnly brought forward in the Chamber of Deputies by War Minister +Cavaignac, who had vouched for its authenticity. And now, as previously +alleged by Colonel Picquart, it was shown to be a forgery of the +clumsiest kind. + +Here at least was 'a new fact' warranting the revision of the whole +Dreyfus case. Surely the blindest bigot could not resist such evidence of +the machinations of those who had sent Dreyfus to Devil's Island; truth +and justice would speedily triumph, and in a week or two he, Zola, would +be able to return to France again. + +But he did not take sufficient account of human obstinacy and vileness. +His friends, to whom he appealed on the subject of his return, urged him +to remain where he was, for the battle, they said, was by no means over, +and his name was still like the red scarf of the matador that goads the +bull to fury. The advice proved good, for again were passions stirred. +Henry, the ignoble forger, was raised to the position of martyr, and +Cavaignac and Zurlinden and Chanoine in turn strove to impede the course +of justice. 'Hope deferred maketh the heart sick,' and thus M. Zola, +finding so many difficulties in the way of his return, abandoned for a +time all work and fell into brooding melancholy. + + + + XI + + THROUGH THE AUTUMN + +Important events were now taking place in Paris. Cavaignac resigned the +position of War Minister and was succeeded by Zurlinden; Du Paty de Clam +was turned out of the army; Esterhazy, who had likewise been 'retired,' +fled from France, Mme. Dreyfus addressed to the Minister of Justice a +formal application for the revision of her unfortunate husband's case; +and that application was in the first instance referred to a Commission +of judges and functionaries. Then General Zurlinden resigned his +Ministerial office, and again becoming Governor of Paris, apprehended the +gallant Picquart on a ridiculous charge of forgery, and cast him into +close confinement in a military prison. There was talk, too, of a +military plot in Paris, and again and again were attempts made to prevent +the granting of Revision. + +Throughout those days of alternate hope and fear M. Zola suffered keenly. +It was, too, about this time that he heard of the death of his favourite +dog--an incident to which I have previously referred as coming like a +blow of fate in the midst of all his anxiety. + +When he rallied he spoke to me of his desire to familiarise himself in +some degree with the English language, with the object principally of +arriving at a more accurate understanding of the telegrams from Paris +which he found in the London newspapers. A dictionary, a conversation +manual, and an English grammar for French students were then obtained; +and whenever he felt that he needed a little relaxation, he took up one +or another of these books and read them, as he put it to me, 'from a +philosophical point of view.' + +Later I procured him a set of Messrs. Nelson's 'Royal Readers' for +children, when he greatly praised, declaring them to be much superior to +the similar class of work current in France. Afterwards he himself +purchased a prettily illustrated edition of the classic 'Vicar of +Wakefield' (the work to which all French young ladies are put when +learning our language), but he found portions difficult to understand, +and a French friend then procured him an edition in which the text is +printed in French and English on alternate pages. + +One day when he had been dipping into English papers and books he tackled +me on rather a curious point. 'Why is it,' said he, 'that the Englishman +when he writes of himself should invariably use a capital letter? That +tall "I" which recurs so often in a personal narrative strikes me as +being very arrogant. A Frenchman, referring to himself, writes _je_ with +a small _j_; a German, though he may gratify all his substantives with +capital letters, employs a small _i_ in writing _ich_; a Spaniard, when +he uses the personal pronoun at all, bestows a small _y_ on his _yo_, +while he honours the person he addresses with a capital _V_. I believe, +indeed--though I am not sufficiently acquainted with foreign languages to +speak with certainty on the point--that the Englishman is the only person +in the world who applies a capital letter to himself. That "I" strikes me +as the triumph of egotism. It is tall, commanding, and so brief! "I"--and +that suffices. How did it originate?' + +It was difficult for me to answer M. Zola on the point; I am a very poor +scholar in such a matter, and I could find nothing on the subject in any +work of reference I had by me. I surmised, however, that the capital I, +as a personal pronoun, was a survival of the time when English, whether +written or printed, was studded with capitals, even as German is to-day. +If I am wrong, perhaps some one who knows better will correct me. One +thing I have often noticed is that a child's first impulse is to write +'i,' and that it is only after admonition that the aggressive and +egotistical 'I' supplants the humbler form of the letter. This did not +surprise M. Zola, since vanity, like most other vices, is acquired, not +inherent in our natures. But in a chaffing way he suggested that one +might write a very humorous essay on the English character by taking as +one's text that tall, stiff, and self-assertive letter 'I.' + +How far M. Zola actually carried his study of English I could hardly say, +but during the last months of his exile he more than once astonished me +by his knowledge of an irregular verb or of the correct comparative and +superlative of an adjective. And if he seldom attempted to speak English, +he at least made considerable progress in reading it. By the time he +returned to France he could always understand any Dreyfus news in the +English papers. Of course the language in which the news was couched was +of great help to him, as in three instances out of four it was simply +direct translation from the French. + +In this connection, while praising many features of the English Press, M. +Zola more than once expressed to me his surprise that so much of the +Paris news printed in London should be simply taken from Paris journals. +Some correspondents, said he, never seemed to go anywhere or to see +anybody themselves. They purely and simply extracted everything from +newspapers. This he was able to check by means of the many Paris prints +which he received regularly. + +'Here,' he would say, 'this paragraph is taken verbatim from "Le Figaro"; +this other appeared in "Le Temps," this other in "Le Siecle,"' and so +forth. And he was not alluding to extracts from editorials, but to +descriptive matter--accounts of demonstrations and ceremonies, +fashionable weddings and other social functions, interviews, and so +forth. The practice upset all his ideas of a foreign correspondent's +duties, which should be to obtain first-hand and not second-hand +information. + +In principle this is of course correct, but a correspondent cannot be +everywhere at the same time; and nowadays, moreover, English journalists +in Paris do not enjoy quite the same facilities as formerly. As regards +more particularly the Dreyfus business, the French, with a sensitiveness +that can be understood, have all along deprecated anything in the way of +foreign interference, and the English Pressman of inquiring mind on the +subject has more than once met with a rebuff from those in a position to +give information. Again, the political difficulties between the two +countries of recent years have often placed the Paris correspondents in a +very invidious position. + +This brings me to the Fashoda trouble, which arose last autumn while M. +Zola was still in his country retreat. The great novelist's enemies have +often alleged that he was no true Frenchman; but for my part, after +thirty years' intimacy with the French, I would claim for him that his +country counts no better patriot. He is on principle opposed to warfare, +but there is a higher patriotism than that which consists in perpetually +beating the big drum, and that higher patriotism is Zola's. + +The Fashoda difficulties troubled him sorely, and directly it seemed +likely that the situation might become serious he told me that it would +be impossible for him to remain in England. The progress of the +negotiations between France and Great Britain was watched with keen +vigilance, and M. Zola was ready to start at the first sign of those +negotiations collapsing. As all his friends were opposed to his return to +France (they had again virtually forbidden it late in September when the +Brisson Ministry finally submitted the case for revision to the Criminal +Chamber of the Cour de Cassation), he would probably have gone to +Belgium, but I doubt whether he would have remained long in that country. + +I have said that M. Zola is opposed to warfare on principle. His views in +this respect have long been shared by me. Life's keenest impressions are +those acquired in childhood and youth. And in my youth--I was but +seventeen, though already acting as a war correspondent, the youngest, I +suppose, on record--I witnessed war attended by every horror:--A city, +Paris, starved by the foreigner and subsequently in part fired by some of +its own children. And between those disasters, having passed through the +hostile lines, I saw an army of 125,000 men with 350 guns, that of +Chanzy, irretrievably routed after battling in a snowstorm of three days' +duration, cast into highways and byways, with thousands of barefooted +stragglers begging their bread, with hundreds of farmers bewailing their +crops, their cattle, and their ruined homesteads, with mothers +innumerable weeping for their sons, and fair girls in the heyday of their +youth lamenting the lads to whom their troth was plighted. And in that +'Retraite Infernale,' as one of its historians has called it, I saw want, +hunger, cupidity, cruelty, disease, stalking beside the war fiend; so no +wonder that, like Zola, I regard warfare as the greatest of abominations +that fall upon the world. I often regret that, short of actual war itself +and its disaster and misery, there should be no means of bringing the +whole horror of the thing home to those silly, arm-chair, jingo +journalists of many countries, our own included, who, viewing war simply +as a means of imposing the will of the stronger upon the weaker, and +losing sight of all that attends it, save martial pomp and individual +heroism, ever clamour for the exercise of force as soon as any difficulty +arises between two governments. + +Ties of affection, bonds of marriage, as well as long years of intimacy, +link me moreover to the French people; and more keenly, perhaps, than +even the master himself, did I realise what war between France and +England might mean; thus we both had an anxious time during the Fashoda +trouble. Fortunately for the general peace hostilities were averted, and +M. Zola was thus able to remain in his secluded English home, and to +continue the writing of his novel. + +The weather was still very fine, and now and again he ventured upon a +little excursion. The principal one was to Virginia Water, where he +strolled round the lake, then drove through part of the Great Park, and +thence on to Windsor Castle, where he saw all the sights, the State +apartments, St. George's Hall and Chapel, the Albert Memorial Chapel, and +so forth. And, as he had brought his hand camera with him, he was able to +take a few snapshots of what he saw. I was not present on that occasion; +his companions were a French gentleman, a very intimate friend, and my +daughter, but I was pleased to hear that he had, at all events, seen +Windsor. As a rule, it was extremely difficult to induce him to emerge +from his solitude. When he took a walk or a bicycle ride his destination +was simply some sleepy Surrey village or deserted common. + +He appreciated English scenery. Around Oatlands he had been much struck +by the beauty of the trees, and was greatly astonished to find such lofty +and perfect hedges of holly running at times for a mile almost without a +break on either side of the roads. I suppose that some of the finest +holly hedges in England are to be found in that district. Then, too, the +rookeries surprised and interested him. There was one he could see from +his window at the last half of his country residences, and many an idle +half-hour was spent by him in watching the flight of the birds or their +occasional parliaments. + +Nobody recognised him on his rambles. I even doubt if people, generally, +thought him a foreigner. He had long ceased to wear his rosette of the +Legion of Honour, and he had replaced his white billycock by an English +straw hat. Towards the close of the fine weather he purchased a 'bowler,' +which greatly altered his appearance. Indeed, there is nothing like a +'bowler' to make a foreigner look English. + +Wareham and I had now quite ceased to fear that any attempt would be made +to serve the Versailles judgment on M. Zola. We were only troubled by +gentlemen of the Press, both French and English, for since Esterhazy had +fled from France and the case for revision had been formally referred to +the Cour de Cassation, several newspapers had become desirous of +ascertaining M. Zola's views on the course of events. My instructions +remained, however, the same as formerly: I was to tell every applicant +that M. Zola declined to make any public statement, and that he would +receive nobody. I was occasionally inclined to fancy that some of those +who called on me imagined that these instructions were of my own +invention, and that I was simply keeping M. Zola _au secret_ for purposes +of my own. But nothing was further from the truth. + +Personally, at certain moments, when the revision proceedings began, when +M. Brisson fell from office, when M. Dupuy, listening to the clamour of a +pack of jackals, transferred the revision inquiry from the Criminal +Chamber to the entire Court of Cassation, I thought that it might really +be advisable for him to speak out. But, anxious though he was, disgusted, +indignant, too, at times, he would do nothing to add fuel to the flame. +Passions were roused to a high enough pitch already, and he had no desire +to inflame them more. + +Besides the cause was in very good hands; Clemenceau and Vaughan, Yves +Guyot and Reinach, Jaures and Gerault-Richard, Pressense, Cornely, and +scores of others were fighting admirably in the Press, and his +intervention was not required. Many a man circumstanced as M. Zola was +would have rushed into print for the mere sake of notoriety, but he +condemned himself to silence, stifling the words which rose from his +throbbing heart. And, after all, was not that course more worthy, more +dignified? + +Thus I could only return one answer to the newspaper men who wrote to me +or called at my house. Late in autumn there was an average of three +applications a week. One or two gentlemen, I believe, imagined that M. +Zola was staying very near me, and, failing to learn anything at my +place, they tried to question one or two tradesmen in the neighbourhood. +One of these, a grocer, became so irate at the frequent inquiries as to +whether a Frenchman, who wrote books and had a grey beard, and wore +glasses, was not staying in the vicinity, that he ended by receiving the +reporters with far more energy than politeness, not only ordering them +out of his shop at the double quick, but pursuing them with his +vituperative eloquence. 'Taking one consideration with another, a +reporter's lot, at times, is not a happy one.' + +A climax was reached when one gentleman, after communicating with M. Zola +by letter through various channels and receiving no answer from him, +ascertained my address and called there. As servants are not always to be +depended upon, we had made it virtually a rule at home that whenever a +stranger was seen at the front door my wife herself should, if possible, +answer it. And she did so in the instance I am referring to. + +Well, the gentleman first asked for me, and on learning that I was +absent, he explained that he was a friend, a private friend of M. Zola, +whom he wished to see on an important private matter. Could she, my wife, +oblige him with M. Zola's address? No, she could not; he had better +write, and his letter would be duly forwarded by me. Then the applicant +started on another story. It was no use his writing, he must see me. +Should I be at home on the morrow? The matter was of great importance, it +would mean a large sum of money for myself and so on. My wife had not +much confidence in what was told her, but she requested the visitor to +leave his name and address in order that I might make an appointment with +him, should I think such a course advisable. + +She was, at the moment, far more amazed and amused than indignant. She +bade the gentleman keep his money, and then showed him to the door. To me +that evening she did not mention the incident, and, indeed, I only heard +of it after I had taken the trouble to communicate with M. Zola +respecting the gentleman's urgent private business, which (so it turned +out) was purely and simply connected with journalism, my visitor having +acted on behalf of the owner of a well-known London newspaper. + +I do not know whether his principal had any knowledge of his impudent +attempt at bribery. For my own part I much regret that my wife (I suppose +in the interests of peace) should have kept it from me at that time as +she did, for the gentleman might otherwise have experienced, as he +deserved, a rather unpleasant ten minutes. + + + + XII + + THE FINAL RESTING-PLACE + +At last the time arrived when it became necessary to remove M. Zola from +his country quarters, and by his desire Wareham and I then looked around +us for a suitable suburban hotel. The autumn was now far spent and M. +Zola felt confident that he would be back in Paris by the end of the +year. Had he foreseen that his exile would prove so long, he would +certainly have sent for a couple of his French servants, and have set up +a quiet establishment in some other furnished house. But for another +month or two he considered that hotel accommodation would well suffice. + +The place selected for him by Wareham and myself was the Queen's Hotel, +Upper Norwood, and there he remained from late in the autumn of 1898 +until his departure from England. + +A glance at the Queen's Hotel shows one that it is composed of what were +once separate houses, now connected together by buildings of one storey +only. Each of these houses, or, as one may perhaps call them, pavilions, +has a separate entrance and staircase; and the advantage of this, to one +circumstanced as M. Zola was, must be obvious. A person lodging in one of +the pavilions can come and go freely. There is no vast hall to cross, +with a dozen servants standing around, ready to scrutinise you as you +pass in and out. You have your suite of rooms in one or another pavilion, +you take your meals there in your own dining-room, and you can shut +yourself off, as it were, from the greater part of the establishment and +enjoy privacy and quiet. This, no doubt, is the reason why so many +well-to-do people, who dislike the stir and bustle of the ordinary hotel, +patronise the hostelry at Upper Norwood. + +There at one time--when consulting Sir Morell Mackenzie, I +believe--stayed the unfortunate Emperor Frederick; and now it may add to +its list of patrons the most famous Frenchman of his day. + +It seemed to Wareham and me that the Queen's Hotel would, under the +circumstances, prove an ideal retreat for M. Zola. Moreover, Upper +Norwood stands on very high ground, and it was probable therefore that he +would largely escape the winter fogs. Of course the Crystal Palace was +comparatively near, but it was not very largely patronised in the winter, +and, besides, if M. Zola wished to escape a crowd, he had only to take +his walks in another direction. + +The Queen's Hotel stands back from the road; but, in the first instance, +as a precautionary measure it was thought best to select for M. Zola a +suite of rooms overlooking the extensive gardens. As time went on, +however, the trees lost their last leaves, the vista from these rooms, +charming enough in summer, became very cheerless. So the master's +quarters were shifted to a larger suite on the ground floor, with the +windows of the two communicating sitting-rooms overlooking both the road +and the garden. + +The two sitting-rooms were an advantage, particularly during the time +that Mme. Zola stayed at the Queen's Hotel (for she joined her husband on +and off), as he could devote one of them entirely to his work. But when +Mme. Zola finally left England (in a very ailing state, after a terrible +cold had kept her within doors for some weeks) her husband moved once +again, and installed himself on the second floor, where the rooms were +smaller and therefore easier to warm. It was then mid-winter. + +The various rooms M. Zola occupied and in which he spent from seven to +eight months--that is by far the greater portion of his exile--were all +part of the same house or pavilion, this being the last of the pavilions +constituting the hotel proper. Adjoining is a lower building, belonging +to the same proprietary as the hotel, but, in a measure, distinct from +it. Most of M. Zola's tenancy was spent in the topmost rooms. After +bringing the master up from the country, I took him one morning down to +Norwood, and he cordially approved of the arrangements which had been +made for him. There was only one thing amiss. Wareham and I had been +promised that he should have a waiter speaking French to attend on him; +and the one provided knew perhaps just a few words of that language. +However, he was very intelligent, very discreet, very willing to +oblige--a pattern waiter of the good old English school. And when I had +explained to him exactly what would be required, he took due note of +everything, and for many months the arrangements that were made worked +virtually without a hitch. + +If M. Zola's surroundings had altered, the routine of his life remained +the same as formerly. With regard to his novel 'Fecondite' he had, as the +saying goes, 'warmed to his work,' which he pursued at the Queen's Hotel +with unflagging energy. + +Knowing his habits I never (unless under exceptional circumstances) +visited him till he had finished his daily quantum of 'copy,' that was +about the luncheon hour. Then we would talk business, communicate to one +another such news as might be necessary, and at times exchange +impressions with regard to the incidents of the day. + +Among other matters often discussed were the English birth-rate and the +rearing of English children, points which deeply interested M. Zola, as +they were germane to the subject of 'Fecondite.' I could at first only +give him general information, but the Rev. R. Ussher, vicar of Westbury, +Bucks, the able author of 'Neo-Malthusianism,' very kindly sent me a copy +of his exhaustive work, which contained many particulars on the points +that principally interested M. Zola. Moreover, Mr. George P. Brett, the +President of the Macmillan Company of New York (M. Zola's American +publishers), supplied him with some interesting information respecting +the United States. + +With regard to England, M. Zola had been much struck by certain +proceedings instituted during his exile against medical men, midwives, +and others, proceedings which seemed to point to the existence in this +country of a state of affairs much akin to that prevailing in France. The +affair of the brothers Chrimes, who first sold bogus medicines and then +proceeded to blackmail the women who had purchased them, was, in Zola's +estimation, particularly significant, for here were hundreds and hundreds +of Englishwomen applying to those men for the means of accomplishing the +greatest crime against Nature there could be. + +On that point M. Zola spoke in no uncertain language. He understood well +enough that the authorities could not justly single out a few of those +hundreds of women for prosecution and punishment: but he censured the +women quite as much as he censured the convicted men, who were, after +all, but common scoundrels. + +And he was amazed to find that so few English newspapers ventured to +speak out on the matter. There were plenty of leaderettes on the cunning +shown by the men, but the alacrity of the women to purchase the bogus +medicines was, as a rule, lightly passed over; and great as is M. Zola's +admiration for the English Press in many respects, he could but regard +its attitude towards the Chrimes case as lamentably inadequate and +lacking in moral courage. + +'A great responsibility,' said he, 'rests with those who, possessing +commanding influence, refrain from requisite action, and who, instead of +seeking to cure proved and acknowledged evils, connive at driving them +beneath the surface, where, in secret, they steadily grow and expand.' +And all this for the sake of the 'young person,' to whose mythical +innocence the welfare of a whole nation is often sacrificed. M. Zola's +views are summed up in the words: 'Let all be exposed and discussed, in +order that all may be cured!' + +He regards Neo-Malthusianism and its practices as abominable, and when he +had learnt more of the actual situation in England he was emphatically of +opinion that his book 'Fecondite,' though applied to France alone, might +well, with little alteration, be applied to this country also. + +The fluctuations in the English birth-rate from 1872 to 1897 were to him +full of meaning. At a certain period, for instance, they showed all the +harm wrought by the abominable Bradlaugh-Besant campaign. But what he +dwelt on still more was the absolute physical incapacity of so many +English mothers to suckle their own offspring. Circumstances are much the +same both in France and the United States, at least among the older +Colonial families. In three or four generations the women of a family in +which the practice of suckling has ceased, are altogether unable to give +the breast; and the 'bottle' ensues, with its thousand evils and a +gradual deterioration of the race. + +On the last occasion when James Russell Lowell came to England he was +asked what change, if any, he remarked since his last visit, among the +people he met, and he replied that he was most struck by the falling off +in height, and breadth of shoulders, of the average man in the London +streets. + +Though matters have not yet reached such a point as in France and +elsewhere, it is I think incontestable that the English race, like many +another, is physically deteriorating. Athletics tend to improve the +standard, but there must be proper material to work upon, and M. Zola, I +found, held the view that for a race to be healthy its womenfolk should +be willing and able to discharge the primary duties of Nature. When he +discovered that so many Englishwomen would not or could not suckle their +babes, he remarked that England had started on the same downward course +as France. + +He often watched the troops of nursemaids and children whom he met during +his afternoon strolls. He noticed and told me how many of the former +neglected their charges, standing about, flirting or gossiping, or +looking into shop windows, while the baby in the bassinette or the +mail-cart sucked away at that vile invention the bone and gutta-percha +'soother,' and he was astonished that ladies should apparently consider +it beneath them to accompany baby on the promenade. Indeed the invariable +absence of the mothers gave him a rather bad opinion of them: for surely +they must know that many of the nurse-girls neglected the infants and yet +they exercised no supervision. 'Of course,' said he, 'they are visiting +or receiving, or reading novels, or bicycling or playing lawn tennis. Ah! +well, that is hardly my conception of a mother's duty towards her infant, +whatever be her station in life.' + +Now and again at intervals I accompanied him on his afternoon walks. +These generally took a semi-circular form. We descended from the plateau +of Upper Norwood on one side to climb to it again on another. Sometimes +we passed by way of Beulah Spa, then round by some fields and a +recreation ground, with the name of which I am not acquainted. There were +several shapely oak trees thereabouts, which he greatly admired and even +photographed. + +'Do you know,' he remarked to me one afternoon, 'when I come out all +alone for my usual constitutional, and want to shake off some worrying +thoughts, I often amuse myself by counting the number of hairpins which I +see lying on the foot-pavement. Oh! you need not laugh, it is very +curious, I assure you. I already had ideas for two essays--one on the +capital "I" in its relation to the English character, and another on the +physiology of the English "guillotine" window and the forms it affects, +not forgetting the circumstance that whenever an architect introduces a +French window into an English house, it invariably opens outwardly so as +to be well buffeted by the wind, instead of into the room as it should +do. Well, now I am beginning to think that I might write something on the +carelessness of Englishwomen in fastening up their hair, and the +phenomenal consumption of hairpins in England. For the consumption must +be enormous since the loss is so great, as I will show you.' + +Then he proceeded to ocular demonstration. As we walked on for half an +hour or so, principally along roads bordered by the umbrageous gardens of +villa residences, we counted all the hairpins we could see. There were +about four dozen. And he was careful to point out that we had chiefly +followed a route where there was but a moderate amount of traffic. + +Not one man in a thousand probably would have thought of counting the +lost hairpins in the streets; but then M. Zola is an observer, and if I +tell this anecdote, which some may think puerile, it is by way of +illustrating his powers of observation and the length to which he +occasionally carries them. + +On one point, I told him, he was rather in the wrong. The great loss of +hairpins did not proceed so much from the carelessness of women in +fastening their hair, as from their 'pennywise and pound-foolish' system +of buying cheap hairpins with few and inefficient 'twists.' These cheap +hairpins never 'caught' properly in their coiled-up tresses. The women +went out, walked rapidly, tossed their heads perchance, and one at least +of their hairpins fell to the ground. Supposing one hundred women passed +along a certain road or street in the course of the day, it would not be +surprising to find that at least thirty hairpins were lost there. And I +concluded by saying that, to the best of my belief, the aforesaid +hairpins were 'made in Germany.' + +Another thing which amused and interested M. Zola when he took his walks +around Norwood was to note the often curious and often high-sounding +names bestowed on villa residences. As a rule the smaller the place the +more grandiose the appellation bestowed on it. Some of the names M. Zola, +having now made progress with his English, could readily understand; +others, too, were virtually French, such as Bellevue, Beaumont, and so +forth; but there were several that I had to interpret, such as Oakdene, +Thornbrake, Beechcroft, Hillbrow, Woodcote, Fernside, Fairholme, +Inglenook, etc. And there was one name that I could not explain to him at +all--an awful name, which I fancied might be Gaelic or Celtic, though I +appealed in vain to Scottish, Irish, and Welsh friends for an +interpretation of its meaning. It was written thus: 'Ly-ee-Moon.' + +Nobody of my acquaintance was able to explain it to me. M. Zola wrote it +down in his memorandum-book as an abstruse puzzle. However, while this +narrative was appearing in the 'Evening News,' several correspondents +kindly informed me that Ly-ee-Moon (at times written 'Lai-Mun') was +Chinese, being the name of a narrow passage or strait between the island +of Hong-Kong and the mainland of China (now transferred to Great +Britain), at the eastern entrance to the harbour of the city of Victoria +on the island. + +It seems also that Ly-ee-Moon is a name often given to ships sailing in +the China seas. And in the case of the Norwood house, built by a retired +shipowner and sea captain, the name was taken from a vessel plying on the +Australian coast for many years, and ultimately wrecked with great loss +of life. The owner of the Norwood house had an engraving of the ship +executed on a plate-glass window of this hall. Until these explanations +reached me both M. Zola and myself were quite as much at sea (with regard +to 'Ly-ee-Moon') as ever its owner and captain was. + +When I spent an afternoon at Norwood with M. Zola we generally returned +to the hotel about half-past four for a cup of tea. And on the way back +(particularly during the last months) I frequently purchased postage +stamps for him at the chief post-office. He might, of course, have bought +them himself, and as a matter of fact he did at times do so. But he was +aware, I think, that he was regarded with some suspicion by the young +lady clerks under the control of the Duke of Norfolk. + +At certain periods, Christmas time and the New Year, for instance, M. +Zola's correspondence became extensive, and on the first occasion when he +entered the Upper Norwood post-office and asked for fifty 2 1_2 d. stamps +he was looked at with surprise. When, a couple of days later, he applied +for another fifty, the young ladies eyed him as if he were a genuine +curiosity. A hundred 2 1_2 d. stamps in four days! What could he do with +them? Nobody could tell. When, shortly afterwards, he returned for +another supply of the same kind, the Norwood post-office was convulsed. +And I doubt if even now some of the young ladies have quite got over that +brief but extraordinary run on the so-called 'foreign stamp.' + +I hope they do not imagine that M. Zola was hungry, and bought those +stamps to eat. + + + + XIII + + WINTER DAYS + +The winter was hardly a cold one, but it proved very tempestuous, and +Upper Norwood, standing high as it does, felt the full force of the +gales. Christmas found M. Zola alone; still, this did not particularly +affect him, as Christmas, save as a religious observance, is but little +kept up in France, where festivity and holiday-making are reserved for +the New Year. In M. Zola's rooms the only token of the season was a huge +branch of mistletoe hanging over the chimney-piece. This he had bought +himself, after I had told him of the privileges attached to mistletoe in +England. There were, however, no young ladies to kiss, and, if I remember +rightly, Mme. Zola, who had been absent in Paris, did not return to +Norwood until a day or two before the New Year. + +While her husband formed a fairly favourable opinion of England, its +customs and its climate, Mme. Zola, I fear, was scarcely pleased with +this country. At all events, she finally left it vowing that she would +never return. But then for three or four weeks bronchitis and kindred +ailments had kept her absolutely imprisoned in her room--her illness +lasting the longer, perhaps, because she was unwilling to place herself +in the hands of any medical man. + +The New Year was but a day or two old, when one of the London morning +newspapers announced with a great show of authority that an application +for the extradition of M. Zola was imminent. Somebody, moreover, informed +the same journal that he had recognised and interviewed M. Zola an +evening or two previously, to which statement was appended a brief +account of some of M. Zola's views. All this amazed me the more as on the +very day mentioned in the newspaper I had been with the master till nine +P.M. and I could hardly believe than anybody had interviewed him after +that hour. Moreover, my wife had since seen him, and he had said nothing +to her of any visit or interview. Nevertheless, as other papers proceeded +to copy the statements to which I have referred, I thought it well to +communicate with our exile on the subject. + +Through the carelessness of one of M. Zola's friends, Wareham's name and +address had lately been given to an English journalist usually resident +in Paris, and this journalist had then come to London to try to discover +the master's whereabouts. It was therefore possible that there might be +some truth in the story. But M. Zola promptly wired to me that such was +not the case, and followed up his telegram with a note in which he said: + + +'My dear confrere and friend,--I have just telegraphed to you that the +whole story of a journalist having interviewed me is purely and simply a +falsehood. I have seen nobody. Again, there can be no question of +extradition in my case; all that could be done would be to serve me with +the judgment of the Assize Court. Those people don't even know what they +write about. + +'As for -----'s indiscretion, this is to be regretted. I am writing to +him. For the sake of our communications, I have always desired that +Wareham's name and address should be known only to those on whom one can +depend. Tell him that he must remain on his guard and _never_ acknowledge +that he knows my address. Persevere in that course yourself. I will wait +a few days to see if anything occurs before deciding whether the +correspondence arrangements should be altered. It would be a big affair; +and I should afterwards regret a change if it were to prove uncalled for. +Let us wait.' + + +Going through the many memoranda and notes I received from M. Zola during +his exile, I also find this, dated February: 'You did right to refuse Mr. +----- my address. I absolutely decline to see anybody. No matter who may +call on you, under whatever pretext it be, preserve the silence of the +tomb. Less than ever am I disposed to let people disturb me.' + +Again, a little later: 'No; I will see neither the gentleman nor the +lady. Tell them so distinctly, in order that they may worry you no more.' + +With the New Year, it will be remembered, had come a succession of +startling events which kept M. Zola in a state of acute anxiety. The +violent attacks of the anti-Revisionists on the Criminal Chamber of the +Cour de Cassation culminated in the resignation of Q. de Beaurepaire, in +an inquiry into the Criminal Chamber's methods of investigation, and +finally in the passing of a law which transferred the task of the +Criminal Chamber to the whole of the Supreme Court. On the many intrigues +of that period I often conversed with M. Zola, who was particularly +angered by the blind opposition of President Faure and the impudent +duplicity of Prime Minister Dupuy. These two were undoubtedly doing their +utmost to impede the course of justice. + +Then suddenly, on February 17, came a thunderbolt. Faure had died on the +previous evening, and by his death one of the greatest obstacles to the +triumph of truth was for ever removed. We talked of the defunct president +at some length, M. Zola adhering to the opinions that he had expressed +during the summer. + +But the great question was who would succeed M. Faure. When M. Brisson +had fallen from office after initiating the Revision proceedings, M. Zola +had said to me: 'Brisson's present fall does not signify; it was bound to +come. But hereafter he will reap his reward for his courage in favouring +revision. Brisson will be Faure's successor as President of the +Republic.' + +In expressing this opinion M. Zola had imagined that Faure would live to +complete his full term of office. His death in the very midst of the +battle entirely changed the position. M. Brisson's time had not come, and +considering his age it indeed now seemed as if he might never attain to +the supreme magistracy. The future looked blank; but M. Loubet was +elected President, and a feeling of great relief followed. + +I have reason to believe that M. Zola regards the death of President +Faure as the crucial turning-point in the whole Dreyfus business. Had +Faure lived every means would still have been employed to shield the +guilty; all the influence of the Elysee would, as before, have been +brought to bear against the unhappy prisoner of Devil's Island. + +During those January and February days M. Zola was an eager reader of the +newspapers. Rumours of all kinds were in circulation, and once again in +M. Zola's mind did despondency alternate with hopefulness. I must say, +however, that he was not particularly impressed by Paul Deroulede's +attempt to induce General Roget to march on the Elysee. He regards +Deroulede as a scarcely sane individual, and holds views on Parisian +demonstrations which may surprise some of those who believe everything +they read in the newspapers. + +These views may be epitomised as follows: The Government can always put +down trouble in the streets when it desires to do so. If trouble occurs +it is because the Government allows it. Three-fourths of the +'demonstrations' that have taken place in Paris during the last year or +two have been simply 'got up' by professional agitators. The men who +start the shouting and the marching are paid for their services, the +tariff being as a rule two francs per demonstration. With 500 francs, +that is 20 l., one can get 250 men together. These are joined by as many +fools and a small contingent of enthusiasts, and then you have a rumpus +on the boulevards, and half the newspapers in Europe announcing on the +morrow: 'Serious Disturbances in Paris. Impending Revolution.' Some +people may ask, Where does the money for many of these demonstrations +come from? The answer is that it comes largely from much the same sources +as those whence General Boulanger's funds were derived--that is, from the +Orleanist party. + +As for military insubordination, plotting, or anything of that kind, M. +Zola often pointed out to me that no general could effect a revolution, +for the simple reason that he could not rely on his men to follow him in +an illegal attempt. It was quite possible that now and again other +generals besides Boulanger had dreamt of overturning the Republic, but +they had not the means to do so. It was as likely as not that the officer +foolhardy enough to make the attempt would be shot in the back by some of +the Socialists among the rank and file. Boulanger no doubt could have +counted on a good many men and 'non-coms.,' as he was popular with them, +but few if any officers above the rank of captain would have followed +him. + +To-day, moreover, intense jealousy still reigns among the French general +officers. There is not one among them of sufficient pre-eminence and +popularity to gather round him a large contingent of military men of high +rank for any political purpose. And this, of course--quite apart from the +opinions of the masses--largely makes for a continuance of the Republican +regime. + +With a weak Government in office, one with a policy of drift, everything +may become possible; but, so long as foresight and vigilance are shown, +the Republic remains impregnable. If military malcontents become +obstreperous it is only necessary to treat them as General Boulanger was +treated. + +I recollect hearing M. Yves Guyot, who was a member of the Cabinet which +put down 'the brave general on the black horse,' and who was also one of +the few French friends who visited M. Zola during his exile, give a brief +account of some of the decisive steps which were taken to stop the +Boulangist agitation. The Prefect of Police of that time was summoned to +the Ministry of the Interior, where two or three members of the +Government awaited his arrival. Amongst other orders given him was one +(if I remember rightly) for the dissolution of M. Deroulede's 'League of +Patriots,' which then, as more recently, was at the bottom of much of the +agitation. + +The Prefect hesitated; he was afraid to execute his orders. 'Very well, +then,' said M. Constans, M. Guyot, and others, 'you may regard your +resignation as accepted; you are not the man for the situation; if you +are afraid, there are plenty who are not; and we shall immediately +replace you.' + +The threat of the loss of office wrought an immediate change in the +Prefect. He became as brave as he had been timorous, and with all due +energy he proceeded to carry out his instructions. Boulangism was crushed +and held up to public opprobrium and ridicule; and but for the culpable +weakness and connivance of M. Felix Faure and his favourite Prime +Minister, M. Meline, it would never have revived in its varied forms of +anti-Semitism, anti-Dreyfusism, etc. + +French functionaries, those of the Civil Service, are, as a rule, a +docile set; but every now and again a Government finding some laxity +among prefects and sub-prefects makes a few examples. Three or four +prefects of departments are transferred in disgrace to less important +towns; two or three are cashiered, and the same method is followed with +some of the sub-prefects. Thereupon, all the others, prefects and 'subs,' +throughout the eighty and odd departments of France, hasten to show +themselves vigilant and, if need be, energetic. Taking one consideration +with another, this system of frightening the prefects into obedience and +vigilance has, so far as the maintenance of public order is concerned, +answered admirably well whenever it has been applied during the last +fifty years. It has undoubtedly been adopted at times for the furtherance +of purely despotic or arbitrary aims; but if ever it was justified such +was the case during the Dreyfus agitation. If the Government had not +connived, for purposes of its own, at the proceedings of what the French +call the 'militarist' party, there would have been no turmoil at all. + +But those in power desired to shield culprits of high rank and to defend +the effete organisation of the French War-office. And those who thus +misused the power they held, who sacrificed the national interests, who +trampled truth and justice under foot, and rendered their country an +object of amazement, distrust, and ridicule throughout the length and +breadth of Europe (Russia not excepted) will be censured and condemned in +no uncertain voice by the France of to-morrow. + +But I am forgetting the prefects and sub-prefects. I mentioned them +partly because M. Zola himself might have been one of them. It is not +generally known, I believe, that at the time of the Franco-German war he +in some degree assisted one of the sub-prefects in the discharge of his +duties, and (had he only so chosen) might even have become a sub-prefect +himself. He had been an opposition, a Republican journalist, before the +fall of the Empire, and M. Gambetta, during his virtual dictatorship +throughout the latter part of the Franco-German war, was very fond of +appointing journalists of that description to office, both in the army +and the Civil Service. M. Zola, then, might have become a sub-prefect to +begin with; and, later, a full-blown prefect. Picture him in a cocked hat +and a uniform bedizened with gold lace, and with a slender sword dangling +by his side. That, at all events, was how sub-prefects and prefects used +to array themselves when 'in the exercise of their functions.' + +I doubt of M. Zola would ever have made a good functionary. His character +is too independent, and in all likelihood he would have resigned the very +first time that he happened to have 'a few words' with his Minister. But +politics having caught him in their grasp he would doubtless (like the +few functionaries of independent views who throw up their posts in +France) have next come forward as a candidate for the Chamber or the +Senate. And then--why not? He might have been an Under-Secretary of +State, later a Minister, and finally President of the Republic. True, as +he himself knows, and readily admits, he is no orator; but then orators +are not always the men who get on in France. Thiers was a ready and +fluent speaker, but MacMahon could scarcely say (or learn by heart) +twenty consecutive words. Grevy, it is true, could be long-winded, prosy, +and didactic; but the powers of elocution which Carnot and Felix Faure +possessed were infinitesimal. And so the idea of Emile Zola, President of +the Republic, may not be so far-fetched after all, particularly when one +remembers Zola's great powers of observation, analysis, and foresight. + +Had he taken to politics in his younger days he would at least have made +his mark in the career thus chosen. And it may be that, in some respects, +French public life might then have been healthier than it has proved +during the last quarter of a century. Perchance, too, on the other hand, +many old maids and young persons, not to mention ecclesiastics and +vigilance societies, would have been spared manifold pious ejaculations +and gasps of horror. Again, my poor father--imprisoned, ruined, and +hounded to his death--might still have been alive. + +Unless some other courageous man had arisen to tear the veil away from +before human life, such as it is in so-called civilised communities, and +show society its own self in all its rottenness, foulness, and +hypocrisy--so that on more than one occasion, shrinking guiltily from its +own image, it has denounced the plain unvarnished truth as libel--there +would have been no 'Nana' and no 'Pot Bouille,' no 'Assommoir,' and no +'Germinal.' And no 'La Terre.' 'La Debacle,' and 'Lourdes,' and 'Rome,' +'Paris,' and 'Fecondite,' and all the other books that have flowed from +Emile Zola's busy pen would have remained unwritten. But for my own part +I would rather that the world should possess those books than that Zola +when tempted, as he was, should have cast literature aside to plunge into +the abominable and degrading vortex of politics. + +Like all men of intellect he certainly has his views on important +political questions, and again and again he has enunciated them in the +face of fierce opposition. In the Dreyfus case, however, he has been no +politician, but simply the indignant champion of an innocent man. And his +task over, truth and justice vindicated, he asks no reward, no office; he +simply desires to take up his pen once more and revert to his life +work:--The delineation and exposure of the crimes, follies, and +short-comings of society as now constituted, in order that those who +_are_ in politics, who control human affairs, may, in full knowledge of +existing evils, do their utmost to remedy them and prepare the way for a +better and a happier world. + + + + XIV + + 'WAITING FOR THE VERDICT' + +I can still see before me the sitting-room on the second floor of the +Queen's Hotel, in which M. Zola spent so much of his time and wrote so +many pages of 'Fecondite' during the last six months or so of his exile. +A spacious room it was, if a rather low one, with three windows +overlooking the road which passes the hotel. + +A very large looking-glass in a gilt frame surmounted the mantelpiece, on +which stood two or three little blue vases. Paper of a light colour and a +large flowing arabesque pattern with a broad frieze covered the walls. +There was not a single picture of any kind in the room, neither steel +engraving, nor lithograph, nor chromo; and remembering what pictures +usually are, even in the best of hotels, it was perhaps just as well that +there should have been none in that room at the Queen's. Yet during the +many hours I spent there the bareness of the walls often worried me. + +Against the one that faced the fireplace stood a small sideboard. Then on +another side was a sofa, and here and there were half a dozen chairs. The +room was rich in tables, it counted no fewer than five. On a folding +card-table in one corner M. Zola's stock of letter and 'copy' paper, his +weighing scales for letters, his envelopes, pens, and pencils, were duly +set out. Then in front of the central window was the table at which he +worked every morning. It was of mahogany, little more than three feet +long and barely two feet wide. Whenever he raised his eyes from his +writing, he could see the road below him, and the houses across the way. +On a similar table at another of the windows he usually kept such books +and reviews as reached him from France. + +In the centre of the room, under the electric lights--which, however, +were only fitted towards the end of M. Zola's sojourn at the hotel, so +that throughout the winter a paraffin lamp supplied the necessary +illumination--stood the table at which one lunched and dined. It was +round and would just accommodate four persons. Finally, beside M. Zola's +favourite arm-chair, near the fireplace, was a little gipsy table, on +which he usually kept the day's newspapers, and perchance the volume he +was reading at the time. + +A doorway on the same side as the fireplace gave ingress to the +bedchamber, which was smaller than the sitting-room, and adequately, but +by no means luxuriously furnished. + +On the little writing-table near the middle window were first a small +inkstand belonging to the hotel, then a few paper-weights covering +memoranda jotted down on little square pieces of paper, about three +inches long either way, together with an old yellowish newspaper which +did duty as a blotting pad; and a pen with a 'j' nib and a very heavy +ivory handle, so heavy, indeed, that though the master often offered it +to me I could never write with it. With this pen, however, he himself did +all his work. That work he generally cleared away before lunch, and +locked up in his bedroom wardrobe, so that by the time a visitor arrived +there was never any litter in the sitting-room. + +The road, viewed from the writing-table window, was at times fairly +lively. Nursemaids and children, bicyclists and others passed constantly +to and fro. Stylish carriages also rolled by during the afternoon, and at +intervals a little green omnibus went its way at a slow jog-trot. The +detached villa residences on the other side of the road were, however, +singularly lifeless. One day M. Zola remarked to me: 'I have never seen a +soul in those houses during all the months I have been here. They are +occupied certainly, for the window blinds are pulled up every morning and +lowered every evening, but I can never detect who does this; and I have +never seen anybody leave the houses or enter them.' + +At last one afternoon he told me that one of these villas had woke up, +for on the previous day he had espied a lady in the garden watering some +flowers. + +Rather lower down the road there was a livelier house, one which had a +balconied window, which was almost invariably open, and here servants and +children were often to be seen. 'That,' said M. Zola, 'is the one little +corner of life and gaiety, amidst all the other silence and lack of life. +Whenever I feel dull or worried I look over there.' + +As a rule the Queen's Hotel itself is, as I have already mentioned, a +very quiet place; but now and again a wedding breakfast was given there. +Broughams and landaus would then roll over the gravel sweep, and M. Zola +and I would at times lean out of the windows and exchange opinions with +respect to the bridal pair and the guests. What surprised and amused him, +on one occasion when a wedding party came to the hotel, was to notice +that all the coachmen of the carriages wore yellow flowers and favours; +for in France yellow is not only associated with jealousy, but also with +conjugal faithlessness. + +'If those flowers ware to be taken as an omen,' said M. Zola to me, 'that +happy pair will soon be in the Divorce Court.' + +During the latter part of his stay at Norwood, when the door between his +bedroom and sitting-room remained open, one could see on a chest of +drawers in the former apartment a pair of life-size porcelain cats, +coloured a purplish maroon, with sparkling yellow glass eyes, and an +abundance of fantastic yellow spots. These cats had been bought by him as +a souvenir of England and English art, for he was much struck by their +oddity. He had been offered others--for instance, white ones with little +coloured landscapes printed all over their backs and sides--surely as +idiotic an embellishment as any insane potter could devise--but although +these had sorely tempted him he had finally decided in favour of the +maroon and yellow abominations. + +A little girl of mine, who found herself face to face with these cats one +day in his room, was quite startled by them, and has since expressed the +opinion that Sir John Tenniel ought to have seen them before he drew the +Cheshire cat for 'Alice in Wonderland.' For my own part I can imagine the +laughter and the jeers of M. Zola's artistic friends when those choice +specimens of British art are shown to them in Paris. + +At intervals during his long sojourn at the Queen's Hotel M. Zola +received a few brief visits from French friends, chiefly literary men and +politicians, whose names need not be mentioned, but who have identified +themselves with the cause of Revision. At times these gentlemen found +themselves in London on other matters, and profited by the opportunity to +run down to Norwood. On other occasions they made the journey from France +for the especial purpose of quieting M. Zola's impatience, and telling +him that he must not yet think of returning home. Again, M. Fasquelle, +the French publisher, came over four or five times, now on business and +now in a friendly way. + +I think that during the seven or eight months that M. Zola stayed at the +Queen's Hotel, he received altogether some ten visits from compatriots, +which visits were often of only an hour or two's duration. Thus, Mme. +Zola having returned to France, he was frequently very much alone. + +During the last months of his exile my wife fell seriously ill, and I +could not then go so often to Norwood. Afterwards ague caught me in its +grip, and my visits ceased for two or three successive weeks. All I could +do in an emergency was to place my eldest daughter or my son at M. Zola's +disposal. + +The foreign visitors he received--by foreign I mean non-French--were +(apart from the Warehams, myself and family) very few in number. I think +that an eminent Russian _publiciste_ who happened to be a personal friend +(M. Zola has long been popular in Russia, where even the Emperor has read +many of his books) saw him on one occasion. Then, when M. Yves Guyot +called, he brought with him an English friend who was pledged to secrecy. + +A well-known English novelist and art critic, M. Zola's oldest English +friend, and his earliest champion in this country, likewise saw him. +Further, in a friendly capacity he received an English journalist for +whom he has much regard, and who came to see him quite apart from any +journalistic matters. To this list I will add the names of Mr. Andrew +Chatto and Mr. Percy Spalding of Messrs. Chatto and Windus, and Mr. +George P. Brett, of the Macmillan Company of New York. + +Such, then, were M. Zola's visitors and guests--say, apart from the +Warehams, myself and family, less than a score of persons, the total +duration of whose visits added together amounted perhaps to a hundred and +twenty hours spread over many long and trying months. + +At times when we chatted together, M. Zola and myself, and mention was +made of his friends--of persons occasionally whom we both knew--he +referred to the many estrangements caused by the divergence of views on +the Dreyfus affair. Friends of twenty and thirty years' standing, men who +had laboured sided by side often in pursuit of the same ideal, had not +only quarrelled and parted but had assailed each other with the greatest +virulence in the Press and at public meetings. + +Many whom he himself had regarded as close and sincere friends had +trodden upon all the past and attacked him abominably, as though he were +the veriest scum of the earth. Some in the earlier stages of the affair +had hypocritically feigned sympathy, in order to provoke his confidence, +and had then turned round to hold him up to execration and ridicule. One +or two had behaved so badly that he had refused ever to receive them at +his house again. + +He spoke to me of an eminent French _litterateur_ who at the outset of +the agitation on behalf of Dreyfus had immediately promised his help, and +had even prepared articles and appeals on behalf of the prisoner of +Devil's Island. But this _litterateur_ had of recent years been lapsing +into mysticism, and at the behests of the reverend father his confessor, +he had abruptly destroyed what he had written, and gone over to the other +side to wage desperate warfare upon the cause he had promised to help. + +The writer in question (one who will probably leave a name in French +literature) was tortured by the everlasting fear that he might go to hell +when he died, and he was the more timorous, the more easily influenced by +certain persons, as he suffered from a horrible, incurable complaint, and +feared that his medical man--a bigoted Romanist--might abandon him to all +the pangs of sudden death if he did not comply with the injunctions of +the Church. + +Then there was a friend of many years' standing, a Minister in successive +Cabinets, who feigned that by remaining in office he would be able to +favour the cause, and who, instead of that, did his utmost against it. A +playwright wrote: 'I am heartily with you, but for God's sake don't say +it, for my plays might be hissed.'* Another prominent man started on a +long journey to avoid having to express any opinion. Nearly all the baser +passions of humanity were made manifest in some degree--treachery, +rancour, jealousy, and moral and physical cowardice. + + * Apropos of the stage, it is a curious circumstance that + nine-tenths of 'the profession' in France are ardent Dreyfusards. + Nearly every actor and actress and vocalist of note has been + on the same side as M. Zola from the outset. + +But, of course, there was another and a brighter side to the picture. +There were men of high intellect and courage who had not hesitated to +state their views and plead for truth and justice, men who, when in +office, had been arbitrarily suspended and removed. There were many who +had risked their futures, many too who, after years of labour, were well +entitled to rest and retirement, yet had come forward with all the ardour +of youth to do battle for great principles and save their country from +the shame of a cruel crime. + +Adversity makes one acquainted with strange bedfellows, and M. Zola was +more than once struck by the heterogeneous nature of the Revisionist +army. He found men of such varied political and social views banded +together for the cause. It all helped to remove sundry old-time +prejudices of his. + +For instance, he said to me one day: 'I never cared much for the French +Protestants; I regarded them as people of narrow minds, fanatics of a +kind, far less tolerant and human than the great mass of the Catholics. +But they have behaved splendidly in this battle of ours, and shown +themselves to be real men.' + +All through the spring M. Zola eagerly followed the inquiry which the +Cour de Cassation was conducting, and when M. Ballot-Beaupre was +appointed reporter to the Court, there came a fresh spell of anxiety. M. +Ballot-Beaupre is a man of natural piety, and the anti-Revisionist +newspapers, basing themselves on his religious views, at first made +certain that he would show no mercy to the Jew Dreyfus, but would report +strongly in favour of the prisoner's guilt. Certain Dreyfusite journals, +on the other hand, bitterly attacked the learned judge for his supposed +clerical leanings; and indeed so much was insinuated that M. Zola for a +short time half believed it possible that M. Ballot-Beaupre might show +himself hostile to revision. + +When I saw M. Zola he repeatedly expressed to me his feelings of +disquietude. Then everything suddenly changed. Certain newspapers +discovered that M. Ballot-Beaupre, if pious, was by no means a fanatic, +and, further, that he was a very sound lawyer, much respected by his +colleagues. This cleared the atmosphere, for it seemed impossible that +any man of rectitude and judgment could pass over the damning revelations +which the Cour de Cassation's inquiry, as published in 'Le Figaro,' had +produced. + +Time went on, and at last the issue, so frequently postponed, so +longingly awaited, came in sight. The week before the public proceedings +of the Cour de Cassation opened M. Zola said to me: 'I shall have +finished the last chapter of "Fecondite" by Saturday or Sunday, so I +shall have my hands quite free and be able to give all my attention to +what takes place at the Courts. I am hopeful, yes, very hopeful, and yet +at moments some horrid doubt will spring up to torture me. But no! you'll +see, our cause will gain the day, revision will be granted, and justice +will be done.' + +And at last came the fateful week which was to prove the accuracy of his +surmises. + + + + XV + + LAST DAYS--DEPARTURE + +I spent the afternoon of Saturday, May 27, with M. Zola, and we then +spoke of the proceedings impending before the Cour de Cassation. All our +information pointed to the conclusion that the Court would give judgment +on the Saturday following, and it was decided that M. Zola should return +to France a few days afterwards. The date ultimately agreed upon was +Tuesday, June 6, and the train selected was that leaving Charing Cross +for Folkestone at 2.45 in the afternoon. + +Though according to every probability the Court's judgment would be in +favour of revision, M. Zola was resolved to return home whatever might be +the issue, and such were his feelings on the matter that nothing any +friend might have urged would have prevented him from doing so. As a +matter of fact one friend did regard the return as somewhat unwise, and +intimated it both by telegram and letter. This compelled me to see M. +Zola again on the following Tuesday (May 30), but the objections were +overruled by him, and the arrangements which had been planned were +adhered to. + +M. Zola had now drafted the declaration which he proposed issuing on the +morrow of his return home, and this he gave me to read. It was the +article 'Justice,' published in 'L'Aurore,' to which I have occasionally +referred in the course of the present narrative. + +I left M. Zola rather late that Tuesday night in the expectation that +everything which had been arranged would follow in due course. As the +writing of 'Fecondite' was now finished he had time on his hands, and a +part of this he proposed to devote to taking a few final snapshots of +Norwood, the Crystal Palace, and surrounding scenery. He needed something +to do, for he could not sit hour by hour in his room at the Queen's Hotel +anxiously waiting for news of the proceedings at the Paris Palais de +Justice. + +For my part I had begun to prepare the present narrative, and as he would +not listen to my repeated offers to take him to the Derby, it was +arranged that I should not see him again until the end of the week. On +Friday, however, reports were already in circulation to the effect that +M. Fasquelle (M. Zola's French publisher) had come to London for the +purpose of escorting him home. + +This was true, and I foresaw that the rumours might lead to some +modifications of our programme; for M. Zola did not wish his return to +have any public character. He had forbidden all the demonstrations which +his friends in Paris were anxious to arrange in his honour, declaring +that he desired to go back quietly and privately, and then at once place +himself at the disposal of the public prosecutor. + +On Friday I sent my daughter Violette to Norwood with a parcel of M. +Zola's photographs, received by Messrs. Chatto and Windus from Miss Loie +Fuller, who being greatly interested in the Clarence Ward of St. Mary's +Hospital, particularly wished M. Zola to sign these portraits in order +that they might be sold at a bazaar which was to be held for the benefit +of the hospital referred to. I told my daughter that I should myself go +down to the Queen's Hotel on the morrow, and she brought me back a +message to the effect that I really must go, as complications had arisen, +and M. Zola particularly desired to see me. + +On the following day, Saturday, I therefore betook myself to Norwood with +a parcel of M. Zola's books, which I had received from Messrs. Macmillan +& Co. on behalf of the Countess of Bective, who (prompted by the same +spirit as Miss Loie Fuller) wished to sell these volumes at the +'Bookland' stall on the occasion of the Charing Cross Hospital Bazaar. +And when I arrived I found indeed that it was most desirable that the +programme of M. Zola's departure should be modified. + +He had already seen M. and Mme. Fasquelle, the former of whom was much +annoyed at the reports of his presence in London, and thought it most +advisable to precipitate the departure. Delay might, indeed, be harmful +if it was desired to avoid demonstrations. Besides, why should he wait +until the ensuing Tuesday? Why not return the very next night--that of +Sunday, June 4--by the Dover and Calais route? Mme. Fasquelle had +declared that she in no way objected to travelling at night time; and so +far as the departure from London was concerned, there would be few people +about on a Sunday evening, which was another point to be considered. I +cordially assented, for now that the imminence of M. Zola's return to +Paris had been reported in the newspapers it was certain that delay meant +a possibility of demonstrations both for and against him. In spite of his +prohibition, many of his friends still wished to greet him like a +conquering hero on his arrival at the Northern Railway Station in Paris. +And the other side would unfailingly send out its recruiting agents to +assemble a contingent of loafers at two francs per demonstration, who +would be duly instructed to yell 'Conspuez,' and 'A bas les juifs.' Then +a brawl would inevitably follow. + +Now M. Zola (as I have already mentioned) did not wish for a homecoming +of that kind. There was no question of refusing to 'face the music,' of +shunning a hostile crowd, and so forth. It was purely and simply a matter +of dignity and of doing nothing that might lead to a disturbance of the +public peace. The triumph of justice was undoubtedly imminent, and it +must not be followed by disorder. + +When I had expressed my concurrence in the views held by M. Zola and M. +Fasquelle, M. Zola and I attended to business. First came the question of +Lady Bective's books, in each of which a suitable inscription was +inserted. Afterwards, in a friend's birthday book M. Zola inscribed his +famous, epoch-making phrase, 'Truth is on the march, and nothing will be +able to stop it.' Finally, a few brief notes were written and posted, and +work was over. + +For a little while we chatted together. Some notable incidents connected +with the interminable Affair had occurred during the last few days. +Colonel du Paty de Clam, for whose arrest the Revisionist journals had +clamoured so long and so pertinaciously, had at last been cast into +prison. In M. Zola's estimation, the Colonel's arrest had been merely a +question of time ever since the day when one had learnt that he had +disguised himself with a false beard and blue glasses when he went to +meet the notorious Esterhazy. + +'A man may be guilty of any misdeed and may yet find forgiveness and even +favour,' M. Zola had then said to me, 'but he must not make himself, his +profession, and his cause ridiculous. In France, as you know, "ridicule +kills." The false beard and the blue spectacles, following the veiled +lady, are decisive. One need scarcely trouble any further about M. du +Paty de Clam. His fate is as good as sealed.' + +And now that the Colonel had at last been arrested, the master remarked, +'The military party is throwing him over to us as a kind of sop; it would +be delighted to make him the general scapegoat, and thereby save all the +other culprits. But it won't do. There are men higher placed than Du Paty +who must bear their share of censure and, if need be, punishment.' + +Then we spoke of Esterhazy, 'that fine type for a melodrama or a novel of +the romantic school,' as M. Zola often remarked. The Commandant had just +acknowledged to the 'Times' and the 'Daily Chronicle' that the famous +_bordereau_ had been penned by him, and we laughed at the remembrance of +his squabbles on this subject with the proprietress of another newspaper. +How indignantly he had then denied having ever acknowledged the +authorship of the _bordereau_, and how complacently he now admitted it! +As for the circumstances under which he asserted the document to have +been written, M. Zola could make nothing of them. 'So far, the +explanations explain nothing,' said he; 'take them whichever way you +will, there is no sense, no plausibility even, in them. Hitherto I always +thought Esterhazy a very shrewd and clever man, but after reading his +statements in the "Times" and the "Chronicle" I no longer know what to +think. Still, one point is gained; he admits having written the +_bordereau_, and others hereafter will tell us the exact circumstances +under which he did so. Colonel Sandherr, at whose bidding he says he +wrote it, is dead; but others who know a great deal about him are still +alive.' + +While M. Zola thus expressed himself, we sat face to face, he in his +favourite arm chair on one side of the fireplace, and I on the other, in +the familiar room, with its three windows overlooking the lively road, +while all around curvetted the scrolls and arabesques of the light +fawn-tinted wall paper. And after chatting about Du Paty and Esterhazy we +gradually lapsed into silence. It was a fateful hour. There were +ninety-nine probabilities out of a hundred that the decision of the Cour +de Cassation would be given that same afternoon; and whatever that +decision might be we felt certain that before it was made public by any +newspaper in London we should be apprised of it. We knew that five +minutes after judgment should have been pronounced a telegram would be +speeding through the wires to the Queen's Hotel, Norwood. + +M. Zola did not tell me his thoughts, yet I could guess them. We can +generally guess the thoughts of those we love. But the hours went by and +nothing came. How long they were, those judges! Whatever could be the +cause of their delay? Surely--trained, practised men that they were, men +who had spent their lives in seeking and proclaiming the truth--surely no +element of doubt could have penetrated their minds at the final, the +supreme moment. + +Ah! the waiter entered, and there on his salver lay a buff envelope, +within which must surely be the ardently awaited message that would tell +us of victory or defeat. M. Zola could scarcely tear that envelope open; +his hands trembled violently. And then came an anti-climax. The wire was +from M. Fasquelle, who announced that he and his wife were inviting +themselves to dinner at Norwood that evening. + +It was welcome news, but not the news so impatiently expected. And, at +last, suspense become intolerable, I resolved to go out and try to +purchase some afternoon newspapers. + +There had been rumours to the effect that as each individual judge might +preface his decision by a declaration of the reasons which prompted it, +the final judgment might after all be postponed until Monday. Both M. +Zola and I had thought this improbable; still, there was a possibility of +such delay, and perhaps it was on account of a postponement of the kind +that the telegram we awaited had not arrived. + +I scoured Upper Norwood for afternoon papers. There was, however, nothing +to the point at that hour (about five P.M.) in 'The Evening News,' the +'Globe,' the 'Echo,' the 'Star,' the 'Sun,' the three 'Gazettes.' They, +like we, were 'waiting for the verdict.' I went as far as the lower level +station in the hope of finding some newspaper that might give an inkling +of the position, and I found nothing at all. It was extremely warm, and I +was somewhat excited. Thus I was perspiring terribly by the time I +returned to the hotel, to learn that no telegram had come as yet, that +things were still _in statu quo_. + +Then all at once the waiter came up again with another buff envelope +lying on his plated salver. And this time our anticipations were +realised; here at last was the expected news. M. Zola read the telegram, +then showed it to me. + +It was brief, but sufficient. 'Cheque postponed,' it said; and Zola knew +what those words meant. 'Cheque paid' would have signified that not only +had revision been granted, but that all the proceedings against Dreyfus +were quashed, and that he would not even have to be re-tried by another +court-martial. And in a like way 'cheque unpaid' would have meant that +revision had been refused by the Court. 'Cheque postponed' implied the +granting of revision and a new court-martial. + +The phraseology of this telegram, as of previous ones, had long since +been arranged. For months many seemingly innocent 'wires' had been full +of meaning. There had been no more enigmatical telegrams, as at the time +of Henry's arrest and death, but telegrams drafted in accordance with M. +Zola's instructions and each word of which was perfectly intelligible to +him. + +It often happened that the newspaper correspondents 'were not in it.' +Things were known to M. Zola and at times to myself hours--and even +days--before there was any mention of them in print. The blundering +anti-Dreyfusites have often if not invariably overlooked the fact that +their adversaries number men of acumen, skill, and energy. Far from it +being true that money has played any role in the affair, everything has +virtually been achieved by brains and courage. In fact, from first to +last, the Revisionist agitation, whilst proving that the Truth must +always ultimately conquer, has likewise shown the supremacy of true +intellect over every other force in the world, whether wealth, or +influence, or fanaticism. + +But I must return to M. Zola. He now knew all he wished to know. As there +had been no postponement of the Court's decision there need be none of +his return. A telegram to Paris announcing his departure from London was +hastily drafted and I hurried with it to the post-office, meeting on my +way M. and Mme. Fasquelle, who were walking towards the Queen's Hotel. + +We had a right merry little dinner that evening. We were all in the best +of humours. M. Zola's face was radiant. A great victory had been won; and +then, too, he was going home! + +He recalled the more amusing incidents of his exile; it seemed to him, +said he, as if for months and months he had been living in a dream. + +And M. Fasquelle broke in with a reminder that M. Zola must be very +careful when he reached his house, and must in no wise damage the +historic table for which he, Fasquelle, had given such a pile of money at +the memorable auction in the Rue de Bruxelles. + +Ah, that table! We were in a mood to laugh about anything, and we laughed +at the thought of the table; at the thought, too, of all the +simple-minded folk who had imagined that they would be able to purchase +'souvenirs' at the auction so abruptly brought to an end. + +Then the Fasquelles, having been to the Oaks on the previous day, began +to talk of Epsom, and the scene, unique in the whole world, which the +famous racecourse presents during Derby week. M. Zola half regretted that +he had missed going. 'But I will go everywhere and see everything,' he +repeated, 'the next time I come to England. I shall then be able to do so +openly, without any playing at hide and seek. Oh, it won't be till after +the Paris Exhibition, that is certain, but I have written an oratorio for +which Bruneau has composed the music, and if it is sung in London, as I +hope, I shall come over and spend a month going about everywhere. But, of +course,' he added, with a twinkle in his eyes, 'I have about two years' +imprisonment to do as things stand, so I must make no positive promises.' + +The rest is soon told. Final arrangements were made, and we came away, M. +and Mme. Fasquelle and myself, about ten o'clock. 'It is your last night +of exile,' I said to M. Zola as I pressed his hand, 'and it will soon be +over. You must try to sleep well.' + +'Sleep!' he replied. 'Oh, there is no sleep for me to-night. From this +moment I shall be counting the hours, the very minutes.' + +'It will make a change for you, Vizetelly,' said M. Fasquelle, as he, +Mme. Fasquelle, and myself walked towards the railway station. 'You will +be missing him now.' + +This was true. All the routine, all the _alertes_, the meetings, the +missions of those eleven months were about to cease abruptly. What had at +first seemed to me novel had with time become confirmed habit, and for +the first few days after M. Zola's departure I felt my occupation gone. + +That departure took place, as arranged, on Sunday evening, June 4. It was +the day when President Loubet was cowardly assailed at a race-meeting by +the friends and partisans of the foolish Duke of Orleans; but of all that +we remained (_pro tem._) in blissful ignorance. The Fasquelles went down +to Norwood and brought M. Zola to Victoria. I was busy during the day +preparing for the 'Westminster Gazette' an English epitome of the +declaration which 'L'Aurore' was to publish on the morrow. That work +accomplished, I met the others on their arrival in town. Wareham had been +warned of the change in the programme on the previous night, and came up +from Wimbledon with my wife. There was a hasty scramble of a dinner at a +restaurant near Victoria. We were served, I remember, by a very amusing +and familiar waiter, who, addressing M. Zola by preference (I wonder if +he recognised him?), kept on repeating that he was a 'citizen of the most +noble Helvetian Confederation,' and assured us that potatoes for two +would be ample, and that chicken for three would be as much as we should +care to eat. 'Take this,' said he, 'it's to-day's. Don't have that, it +was cooked yesterday.' And all this made us extremely merry. 'It seems to +me more than ever that I am living in a dream,' said M. Zola after a +final laugh. 'That waiter has given the finishing touch to my illusion.' + +The train started at nine P.M., and we had a full quarter of an hour at +our disposal for our leave-takings in the dimly-lighted station. There +were few passengers travelling that night, and few loiterers about. We +made M. Zola take his seat in a compartment, and stood on guard before it +talking to him. Only one gentleman, a short dapper individual with +mutton-chop whiskers (Wareham suggested that he looked like a barrister), +paid any attention to the master, and, it may be, recognised him. For the +rest, all went well. There were _au revoirs_ and handshakes all round, +and messages, too, for one and another. And M. Zola would have his little +joke. 'If you should come across Esterhazy,' he said to me, 'tell him +that I've gone back, and ask him when he's coming.' + +'Well,' I replied, 'he will probably want another safe-conduct before +answering that question.' + +'Do you think that a safe-conduct to take Dreyfus's place would suit +him?' was M. Zola's retort. + +But the clock was now on the stroke of the hour, the carriage doors were +hastily closed, and the signal for departure was given. + +'Au revoir, au revoir!' A last handshake, and the train started. For +another half-minute we could see our dear and illustrious friend at his +carriage window waving his arm to us. And then he was gone. The +responsibility which had so long rested on Wareham and myself was ended; +Emile Zola's exit was virtually over: shortly after five o'clock on the +following morning he would once more be in Paris, ready to take his part +in the final, crowning act of one of the greatest dramas that the world +has ever witnessed. Truth was still marching on, and assuredly nothing +would be able to stop it. + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's With Zola in England, by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH ZOLA IN ENGLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 10670.txt or 10670.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/6/7/10670/ + +Produced by Dagny, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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