saw all the sights, the State
apartments, St. George's Hall and Chapel, the Albert Memorial Chapel, and
so forth. And, as he had brought his hand camera with him, he was able to
take a few snapshots of what he saw. I was not present on that occasion;
his companions were a French gentleman, a very intimate friend, and my
daughter, but I was pleased to hear that he had, at all events, seen
Windsor. As a rule, it was extremely difficult to induce him to emerge
from his solitude. When he took a walk or a bicycle ride his destination
was simply some sleepy Surrey village or deserted common.

He appreciated English scenery. Around Oatlands he had been much struck
by the beauty of the trees, and was greatly astonished to find such lofty
and perfect hedges of holly running at times for a mile almost without a
break on either side of the roads. I suppose that some of the finest
holly hedges in England are to be found in that district. Then, too, the
rookeries surprised and interested him. There was one he could see from
his window at the last half of his country residences, and many an idle
half-hour was spent by him in watching the flight of the birds or their
occasional parliaments.

Nobody recognised him on his rambles. I even doubt if people, generally,
thought him a foreigner. He had long ceased to wear his rosette of the
Legion of Honour, and he had replaced his white billycock by an English
straw hat. Towards the close of the fine weather he purchased a 'bowler,'
which greatly altered his appearance. Indeed, there is nothing like a
'bowler' to make a foreigner look English.

Wareham and I had now quite ceased to fear that any attempt would be made
to serve the Versailles judgment on M. Zola. We were only troubled by
gentlemen of the Press, both French and English, for since Esterhazy had
fled from France and the case for revision had been formally referred to
the Cour de Cassation, several newspapers had become desirous of
ascertaining M. Zola's views on the course of events. My instructions
remained, however, the same as formerly: I was to tell every applicant
that M. Zola declined to make any public statement, and that he would
receive nobody. I was occasionally inclined to fancy that some of those
who called on me imagined that these instructions were of my own
invention, and that I was simply keeping M. Zola _au secret_ for purposes
of my own. But nothing was further from the truth.

Personally, at certain moments