But he had passed through them, lending his presence without giving himself to them, with this idea always present in his mind: that he existed to become familiar with other customs, to watch other characters, to clothe other personages and the sensations which vibrated within them.

The period of his revival was marked by the achievement of each one of his books which he composed then, persuaded that, once written and construed, a sentimental or social experience was not worth the trouble of being dwelt upon.

Thus is explained the incoherence of custom and the atmospheric contact, if one may so express it, which are the characteristics of his work.

Take, for example, his first collection of novels, the 'Etudes de Femmes,' which made him famous.

They are about a sentimental woman who loved unwisely, and who spent hours from excess of the romantic studying the avowed or disguised demi-monde.