As Alexis remarks, after telling this story, what other publisher would have done such a thing? In Zola's case it raised him from modest circumstances to affluence. Had the original contract remained in force he would have earned, inclusive of the earlier payments from Lacroix, no more than forty thousand francs by the first twelve volumes of his "Rougon-Macquart" series. At least he would have earned no more during the first ten years of their circulation. But thanks to M. Charpentier's generous honesty,--the successive increase, too, of Zola's royalty from forty to fifty and sixty centimes per volume, the various sums accruing from special issues, illustrated editions, popular editions, _éditions de luxe_, serial rights and translation rights--all of which, under the agreement, would have belonged to the publisher--he earned by those twelve books fully twenty times the amount of money he had covenanted to take for them. That said, it is as well to return to the year 1872, and show how, his long spell of absolute ill-luck ceasing, Zola, while still encountering much hostility, which presently was to grow into a furious storm, gradually advanced along the path of success, assisted by literature's handmaiden, journalism, and cheered by the friendship of some of the foremost men of letters of his time. [1] "Lettres de Jules de Goncourt," etc., Paris, 1885, p. 219. (Letter dated February 27, 1865.) [2] "Lettres de Jules de Goncourt," p. 273 (February 5, 1868). [3] "Journal des Goncourt," Paris, 1888, 1ère Série, Vol. III. [4] "Lettres de Jules de Goncourt." See those of January 10, January 17, and April 10, 1869. [5] "Journal des Goncourt," Vol III, p. 245 _et seq._ [6] "Journal des Goncourt," Vol. IV, p. 15. [7] "La Tribune," October, 1869. [8] "Traité philosophique et physiologique de l'Hérédité Naturelle dans les états de santé et de maladie du Système Nerveux," Paris, 1847-1850, 2 vols. 8vo. [9] This tree was subsequently inserted at the beginning of "Une Page d'Amour," 1878 _et seq._ The leaves bear the names of twenty-six characters. But the series expanded, and with its last volume, "Le Docteur Pascal," 1893, a new genealogical tree was issued giving six more names. [10] That was then the usual price of a French novel. The rise to 3 francs 50 centimes took place after the War of 1870. [11] £240, about $1,200. [12] See _ante_, p. 30. [13] Notably with regard to the publication of that extraordinary romance, "L'Homme qui Rit," for which Lacroix paid much more than its value. [14] The Parnassians, who were brought together by Xavier de Ricard, dated from about 1860. The first series of "Le Parnasse contemporain" was issued by Lemerre in 1866. [15] "The Adventures of my Life," by Henri Rochefort, English edition, London, 1896, Vol. I, p. 206. [16] His brother, Charles Vacquerie, after marrying the poet's daughter, Léopoldine Hugo, had been drowned with her off Villequier, in 1843.