of which papers wanted her work, she bound herself to the _Revue des
Deux Mondes_, which was to pay her a hundred and sixty pounds a year for
thirty-two pages of writing every six weeks. In 1833 the _Revue des Deux
Mondes_ published Lelia, and on January 1, 1876, it finished publishing
the _Tour de Percemont_. This means an uninterrupted collaboration,
extending over a period of forty-three years.

The literary critic of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ at that time was
a man who was very much respected and very little liked, or, in other
words, he was universally detested. This critic was Gustave Planche.
He took his own _role_ too seriously, and endeavoured to put authors
on their guard about their faults. Authors did not appreciate this.
He endeavoured, too, to put the public on guard against its own
infatuations. The public did not care for this. He sowed strife and
reaped revenge. This did not stop him, though, for he went calmly on
continuing his executions. His impassibility was only feigned, and this
is the curious side of the story. He suffered keenly from the storms of
hostility which he provoked. He had a kindly disposition at bottom
and tender places in his heart. He was rather given to melancholy and
intensely pessimistic. To relieve his sadness, he gave himself up to
hard work, and he was thoroughly devoted to art. In order to comprehend
this portrait and to see its resemblance, we, who knew our great
Brunetiere, have only to think of him. He, too, was noble, fervent
and combative, and he sought in his exclusive devotion to literature a
diversion from his gloomy pessimism, underneath which was concealed such
kindliness. It seemed with him, too, as though he took a pride in making
a whole crowd of enemies, whilst in reality the discovery of every fresh
adversary caused him great suffering.

When _Lelia_ appeared, the novel was very badly treated in _L'Europe