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