“Well! and if you did! Even if you did get into the Academy by writing a fine book! What then?” And she added with contemptuous pity: “Let’s hope, at any rate, that the reviews will set him right.”
Julius exploded.
“The reviews! Good God! The reviews!” he exclaimed, and then turning furiously upon Marguerite as if it were her fault, added with a bitter laugh:
“They do nothing but abuse me.”
At last Marguerite was effectually awakened.
“Is there a great deal of criticism?” she asked with solicitude.
“Yes, and a great deal of crocodile praise too.”
“Oh, how right you are to despise all those wretched journalists! Think of what M. de Vogué wrote to you the day before yesterday: ‘A pen like yours defends France like a sword!’”
“‘Threatened as France is with barbarism, a pen like yours defends her better than a sword!’” corrected Julius.
“And when Cardinal André promised you his vote the other day, he declared that you had the whole Church behind you.”