The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-06-02
VICTOR HUGo's "BEsT FRIEND"
The Place Madame DrOust Held In a Very
French Establishment.

AAo haoo nAAuhmo DrOuob uoiW IA - NoAy
French Establishment.
Lucy Hooper's Paris Letter.
Nine. Drouet Is dead and the home of Vic
tor Hugo knows vacancy that never will be
filled. Fifty years ago, when Lucrece Borgia
was first given to the world, the then young
poet, its author, was struck by the personal
charms of an actress who had been specially
engaged to represent the princess Negroni,'
an episodcal character who appears only in
the last act, she being the lady at whose
palace the fatal supper at Ferrara"
takes place, Tall and slender, with
superb dark eyes, and features as
delicate and regular as those Of an
antique cameo. she looked so lovely in her
robes of rose-colored and silver brocade, with
plumes and pearls in her rich dark hair, that
the susceptible heart of Victor Hugo received
a deep and enduring wound. Then began
the attachment that has endured through all
these years, mistaken and undiminished by
trials, misfortunes, exile, or old age. Victor
Hugo, in these later years used to present
my best friend" She was then a very love-
Unlocking old lady, with silky, snow-white
hair and peculiarly pleasant manners.
She appears to have been not only his
faithful nurse in sickness, his devoted
companion in time of danger, and the only
woman that he ever sincerely loved, but his
inspiration and sympathizer in his literary
labors as we'll. She was also his amanuensis,
most of the later volumes that he gave to
the press having been copied out by her.
But for her." Victor Hugo was wont to say,
LES Miserables and the Toilers of the Sea
would never have been written" Her life
was one long act of unselfish devotion
her apartments and aided his escape
after the Coup d Etat. She followed
him into exile wherever that exile
might lead hm-to Brussels, Jersey,
or Guernsey. During her last illness (she
died of cancer in the stomach) she never re-
Taxed her watchful care of Victor Hugo, and
her last act was to drag herself from her bed
TO prepare draught for the relief of cold
from which he is suffering. Yet with all
these extenuating circumstances-with all
this mutual affection and lifelong devotion
there are many features about the affair
that jar horribly on our American ideas.
That Victor Hugo should have installed
Nine Drouet under the same roof with
his daughter-in-law and his grand
children, and that, after Nine.
Hugos death, he should never
have sought to consecrate their union by
marriage, are things that to the transatlantic
mind are past comprehension or pardon
Yet, in paliation of the poets course, it must
be confessed that his married life was far
from presenting for him any elements of
happiness, though it had been one of mutual
affection and contracted at a very early age
NJ me. Hugo was a VIGOROUSLY unfaithtul
wife, fact which recent scandalous French
publications have fully revealed to the
world. In fact, only the existence of his
children prevented Victor Hugo from seek
Ing judicial separation long years before
Nine. Hugo died.
Mime. Drouet's real name was Juliette
Gauvain. Victor Hugo has immortalized
her surname in his novel of "'93." She was
originally intended for convent life, and
was educated at the Picpus convent, the
scenes of her childhood having furnished the
material for several of the earlier cha piers of
Lies Mserables" She soon quilted the con-
vent to devote herself to the theater, where
her extraordinary and statuesque beauty at
once drew upon her the attention of the pub
lie. Victor Hugo intended that she should
create the role of Jane in his marie Tudor"
but the part was finally taken by Mile. Ida
Oddly enough, while the life of the destined
representative of the character became link ed
to that of Victor Hugo, the actress who
really personated it was shortly after mar
ried to Alexandra Dumas. The match proved
most unhappy one, and the pair speedily
separated by mutual consent. Mime. Drouets
funeral was attended by all the notable per-
sonages of the brilliant literary and artistic
circle of which Victor Hugo is the center
Had she been his wife no more marked hon.
ors could have been paid to her memory.