Albine, broken-hearted, died
among her loved flowers in the Paradou.
The tale is to some extend an indictment of the celibacy of the
priesthood, though it has to be admitted that the issue is not put quite
fairly, inasmuch as the Abbe was, at the time of his lapse, in entire
forgetfulness of his sacred office. As a whole, the book contains some
of Zola's best work, and is both poetical and convincing.
Une Page d'Amour.
A tale of Parisian life, in which the principal character is Helene
Mouret, daughter of Mouret the hatter, and sister of Silvere Mouret (_La
Fortune des Rougon_) and Francois Mouret (_La Conquete de Plassans_).
Helene married M. Grandjean, son of a wealthy sugar-refiner of
Marseilles, whose family opposed the marriage on the ground of her
poverty. The marriage was a secret one, and some years of hardship
had followed, when an uncle of M. Grandjean died, leaving his nephew
a substantial income. The couple then moved to Paris with their young
daughter Jeanne, but the day after their arrival Grandjean was seized
with illness from which he died. Helene remained in Paris, though she
had at first no friends there except Abbe Jouve and his half-brother M.
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