Later on, he returned to the subject:
I have been specially pleased with a couple of allusions to Lola and this poor Mariette; but, to be perfectly candid—and being afraid that you would find the subject a little indecorous—I began to reproach myself for having mentioned it to you in my last letter from Czernowitz.
In speaking of Lola, you tell me that you defend her (which I do also, but not for the same reasons) because she stands for progress. Then, a page further on, in resuming the subject at Vienna, you find me very young to still believe in justice, not realising that, in this little circle of ideas and things, I represent in Europe a progressive and intelligent movement. "Alas! Who represents anything in Europe to-day?" you enquire with Bossuet.
Well, then, Lola stands for the nineteenth century, and Daniel Stern stands for the woman of the ninth century; and, were it not for having contributed to the representation of others, I too shall finish by representing something else, by means of the 25,000 francs of income it will be necessary for me to end up by securing.
CHAPTER IX
"MAÎTRESSE DU ROI"
I
