Many
persons expressed their joy with such boisterous gestures as men indulge
in on learning of a victory, and some exclaimed savagely, 'It is none
too soon.' The unseemliness of this extraordinary spectacle evoked no
retort from the passers-by." The feeling of resentment is still alive in
France, and it is necessary to take it into account in the consideration
of any estimates of his literary work by his own countrymen. It is a
mistake to attribute Zola's campaign for the rehabilitation of Dreyfus
to mere lust of fame, as has been freely done. He certainly was
ambitious, but had he wished to gain the plaudits of the crowd he
would not have adopted a cause which was opposed by the majority of the
nation. As a result of the agitation, he was obliged to leave France
and take refuge in England, till such time as a change of circumstances
enabled him to return.
On 29th September, 1902, the world was startled to learn that Emile Zola
had been found dead in his bedroom, suffocated by the fumes of a
stove, and that his wife had narrowly escaped dying with him. A life of
incessant literary labour had been quenched.
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