THE THREE CITIES



LOURDES



BY

EMILE ZOLA

Volume 1.



TRANSLATED BY ERNEST A. VIZETELLY



PREFACE



BEFORE perusing this work, it is as well that the reader should
understand M. Zola's aim in writing it, and his views--as distinct from
those of his characters--upon Lourdes, its Grotto, and its cures. A short
time before the book appeared M. Zola was interviewed upon the subject by
his friend and biographer, Mr. Robert H. Sherard, to whom he spoke as
follows: