All that I claim for this little book, reprinted from the columns of 'The
Evening News,' is the quality of frankness. I do not desire to check or
disarm criticism, but I have a right to point out that I have performed
my work rapidly and have largely subordinated certain literary
considerations to a desire to write my story naturally and simply, in
much the same way as I should have told it in conversation with a friend.
Very rarely, I think, have I departed from this rule.

The book supplies an accurate account of Emile Zola's exile in this
country; but some matters I have treated briefly because he himself
proposes to give the world--probably in diary form--some impressions of
his sojourn in England with a record of his feelings day by day whilst
the great campaign in favour of the unfortunate Alfred Dreyfus was in
progress.

First, however, M. Zola intends to collect in a volume all his published
declarations, articles and letters on the Affair. Secondly, he will
recount in another volume his trials at Paris and Versailles; and only in
a third volume will he be able to deal with his English experiences. The
last work can scarcely be ready before the end of 1900, and possibly it
may not appear until the following year. And this is one of the reasons
which have induced me to offer to all who are interested in the great
French writer this present narrative of mine. Should the master's
promised record duly appear, my own will sink into oblivion; but if, for
one or another reason, M. Zola is prevented from carrying out his plans,
here, then, will at least be found some account of one of the most
curious passages in his life. And then, perchance, my narrative may
attain to the rank of _memoire pour servir_.