Edmond de Goncourt, however, after several years of silence, returned alone to the composition of prose romance. He published in 1877 "La Fille Elisa," an ultra-realistic tragedy of low life. In 1878, in the very curious story of two mountebanks, "Les Freres Zemganno," he betrayed the secret of his own perennial sorrow. Two more novels, "La Faustin," 1882, and "Cherie," the pathetic portrait of a spoiled child, close the series of his works in fiction. He returned to a close examination of the history of art, and published_ catalogues raisonnes _of the entire work of Watteau (1875) and of Prud'hon (1876). His latest interests were centred around the classical Japanese designers, and he published elaborate monographs on Outamaro (1891) and Hokousai (1896). In 1885 he collected the Letters of his brother Jules, and issued from 1887 to 1896, in nine volumes, as much as has hitherto been published of the celebrated "Journal des Goncourts." Edmond de Goncourt died while on a visit to Alphonse Daudet, at Champrosay, the country-house of the latter, on the 16th of July, 1896. He left his considerable fortune, which included valuable collections of bibelots, mainly for the purpose of endowing an Academy of Prose Literature, in opposition to the French Academy. In spite of extreme hostility from the members of his family, and innumerable legal difficulties, this "Academie des Goncourts" was formed, on what seems to be a secure basis, in 1901, and M. Joris Karl Huysmans was elected its first president._ E. G. CONTENTS PAGES Edmond and Jules de Goncourt v-xxix _James Fitzmaurice-Kelly_ Lives of Edmond and Jules de Goncourt xxxi-xxxiii _Edmund Gosse_ Renee Mauperin 1-349 The Portraits of Edmond and Jules de Goncourt 351-367 _Octave Uzanne_ RENEE MAUPERIN I "You don't care about society, then, mademoiselle?" "You won't tell any one, will you?--but I always feel as though I've swallowed my tongue when I go out. That's the effect society has on me. Perhaps it is that I've had no luck. The young men I have met are all very serious, they are my brother's friends--quotation young men, I call them. As to the girls, one can only talk to them about the last sermon they have heard, the last piece of music they have learned, or their last new dress. Conversation with my contemporaries is somewhat restricted." "And you live in the country all the year round, do you not?" "Yes, but we are so near to Paris. Is the piece good they have just been playing at the Opera Comique? Have you seen it?" "Yes, it's charming--the music is very fine. All Paris was at the first night--I never go to the theatre except on first nights."