Public Prosecutor caused inquiries regarding the author to be made at
Hachette's, but nothing more was done, and it is indeed doubtful if any
successful prosecution could have been raised, even at a period when it
was thought necessary to indict the author of _Madame Bovary_.

Zola's employers had, however, begun to look askance at his literary
work; they may have considered that it was occupying too much of the
time for which they paid, or, more probably, they were becoming alarmed
at their clerk's advanced views both on politics and literary art. As
Zola afterwards explained the matter, one of the partners said to him,
"You are earning two hundred francs a month here, which is ridiculous.
You have plenty of talent, and would do better to take up literature
altogether. You would find glory and profit there." The hint was a
direct one, and it was taken. The young author was again thrown upon
his own resources, but was no longer entirely unknown, for the not
unfavourable reception of his first book and the violent attacks on
his second had given him a certain position, even though it may to some
extent have partaken of the nature of a _succes de scandale_. As
he wrote at the time, he did not mean to pander to the likes or the
dislikes of the crowd; he intended to force the public to caress or
insult him.

Journalism was the avenue which now appeared most open, and Zola got an
appointment on the staff of a newspaper called _L'Evenement_, in which
he wrote articles on literary and artistic subjects. His views were
not tempered by moderation, and when he depreciated the members of the
_Salon_ in order to exalt Manet, afterwards an artist of distinction,
but then regarded as a dangerous revolutionary, the public outcry was
such that he was forced to discontinue publication of the articles.
He then began a second story called _Le Vaeu d'une Morte_ in the same