had been less misted, he would not have unmasked
them.

Thus the brave-man-in-spite-of-himself set off like Oedipus for the
fight with the Sphinx, Country, who awaited him at the crossroads.

Bertin's attack drew the attention of several politicians to
Clerambault; they belonged to the extreme Left, and found it difficult
to conciliate the opposition to the Government--their reason for
existence--with the Sacred Union formed against the enemies' invasion.

They republished the first two articles in a socialist paper which was
then balancing itself between contradictions; opposing the war, and at
the same time voting for credits. You could see in its pages eloquent
statements of internationalism side by side with the appeals of
ministers who were preaching a nationalist policy. In this seesaw
Clerambault's lightly lyrical pages, where the attack on the idea
of Country was made with caution, and the criticism covered up by
devotion, would have been taken as a harmless platonic protestation.
Unfortunately, the teeth of censure had fastened themselves upon some
phrases, with the tenacity of ants; they might have escaped notice in
the general distraction of thought, if it had not been for this.

In the article addressed "_To Her whom We have Loved_," the word
country appears the first time coupled with an invocation to love.
The critics kept this, but cut it out when it occurred further on
dissociated from such flattering expressions. The word, awkwardly
concealed under this extinguisher, shone all the more brightly in the
mind of the reader--but this they were too dull to perceive, and
great importance was thus given to writings which had not much in
themselves. It must be added that all minds were then in a passive
state, in which the slightest word of liberal humanitarianism took on
an extraordinary importance, particularly if signed by a well-known
name.

The "_Pardon Asked of the Dead_," was more effective than the other
ever could be; its sadness touched the mass of simple hearts, to whom
the war was agony. The authorities had been indifferent up to now, but
at the first hint of this they tried to put a stop to it. They had
sense enough to know that rigorous measures against Clerambault
would be a mistake, but they could put pressure on the paper through
influence behind the scenes. An opposition to the writer showed
itself on the staff of the paper. Naturally they did not blame
the internationalism of his