He was still obsessed by a desire for literary glory, and had
thoughts of writing a poem on some vast subject, but at last he hit on
a scheme which soon took form in his mind. With reference to it he said,
"I am going to take a family, and I shall study its members, one by one,
whence they come, whither they go, how they react upon one another--in
short, humanity in a small compass, the way in which humanity grows and
behaves. On the other hand, I shall set my men and women in a determined
period of history, which will provide me with the necessary surroundings
and circumstances, a slice of history--you understand, eh? A series
of fifteen or twenty books, episodes that will cling together although
having each a separate framework, a suite of novels with which I shall
be able to build myself a house for my old age if they don't crush
me." The first of the novels met with some success, and Sandoz having
resigned his appointment, and put his trust entirely in literature,
married a young girl named Henriette, the daughter of middle-class
parents, and removed his house to Rue Nollet. In course of time his
circumstances became still more comfortable, and he again removed to a
large house in Rue de Londres.
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