for one chapter I terminate
them in another. I try also to give some rest to the mind of the reader,
or rather remove the tension caused by too long and stirring a passage,
by interlarding something which diverts the attention for a time.

"Finally, I repeat, I have no preconceived plot. I do not know at the
beginning of a chapter how it will end. Situations must logically follow
one another, that is all."

Of course, after this, the conversation rolled on some of his principal
works, particularly "La Terre."

In reply to the objection taken to that book, one of his arguments is
that progress and science have made of man a being distinct from that of
last century, and insisted that nowadays we must abandon the study of
the metaphysical man of years gone by for an enquiry into the
physiological creature of our days. That is my opinion, and it is in
defence of this conviction that I worked for years.

[Illustration: EMILE ZOLA.]

The next subject upon which I thought I might tackle him was the
"Debacle."

"How did I prepare my 'Debacle'? Well, in the same way as all my other
books. You know I went over most of the battlefields described by me.
Moreover, I received innumerable letters on the subject. The most
interesting ones came from the professors of Paris schools, who, being
left without employment, enlisted. These letters, coming from educated
men, contain, without one exception, the same lamentations, and give
similar accounts of privations and suffering. They all describe how for
days they had to go without food, and ragged; and how fast their numbers
were thinned. Each had in his memoirs accounts illustrating the
blundering ignorance of the commanders! I was violently attacked when
the 'Debacle' appeared. Everything was criticised as usual, and many
details declared inaccurate. But I ask you whether it is always possible
to be as absolutely accurate in small details in a novel as in a
history?

[Illustration: THE DRAWING ROOM.]

"Some dates have been misplaced, and some details relating to the colour
of the troopers' collars were not right; but criticism of such absurd
details cannot affect the treatment and the development of the subject,
and the conclusions arrived at. I am told that Marshal MacMahon is wild
against me, and that he is preparing a reply to my book. It has always
been my object to avoid personalities. I never once accused MacMahon,
but the facts prove that he acted ignorantly. History wi