Journalism was the avenue which now appeared most open, and Zola got an appointment on the staff of a newspaper called _L’Evenement_, in which he wrote articles on literary and artistic subjects. His views were not tempered by moderation, and when he depreciated the members of the _Salon_ in order to exalt Manet, afterwards an artist of distinction, but then regarded as a dangerous revolutionary, the public outcry was such that he was forced to discontinue publication of the articles. He then began a second story called _Le Vaeu d’une Morte_ in the same newspaper. It was intended to please the readers of _L’Evenement_, but from the first failed to do so, and its publication was stopped before it was half completed. Soon afterwards _L’Evenement_ was incorporated with the _Figaro_, and Zola’s connection with it terminated. A time of hardship again began, and during the year 1867 the wolf was only kept from the door by unremitting toil of the least agreeable kind. In the midst of his difficulties Zola wrote two books simultaneously, one supremely good and the other unquestionably bad. The one was _Therese Raquin_, and the other _Les Mysteres de Marseille_. The latter, which was pure hack-work, was written to the order of the publisher of a Marseillaise newspaper, who supplied historical material from researches made by himself at the Marseilles and Aix law courts, about the various _causes celebres_ which during the previous fifty years had attracted the most public attention. These were to be strung together, and by an effort of legerdemain combined into a coherent whole in the form of a novel. Zola, desiring bread, undertook the task, with results that might have been anticipated. _Therese Raquin_ is a work of another kind, for into it Zola put the best that was in him, and elaborated the story with the greatest care. It is a tale of Divine Justice, wherein a husband is murdered by his wife and her lover, who, though safe from earthly consequence, are yet separated by the horror of their deed, and come to hate each other for the thing they have done. The book is one of remarkable power, and it is interesting to note that in the preface to it Zola first made use of the word _naturalisme_ as describing that form of fiction which he was afterwards to uphold in and out of season. A violent attack in the _Figaro_ gave opportunity for a vigorous reply, and the advertisement so obtained assisted the sales of the book, which from the first was a success. It was followed by _Madeleine Ferat_, which, however, was less fortunate. The subject is unpleasant, and its treatment lacks the force which made _Therese Raquin_ convincing.