JOSEPHINE, THE SONGSTRESS
225
at some other time. Like the demand itself, the refusal as such
does not really matter; what matters is that the nation can show
such a solid front towards one of its own members, all the more
solid in so far as it otherwise humbly takes a paternal, and more
than paternal, interest in this same member.
If
a single person had represented the nation as a whole here,
one might think that as long as this person had been indulging
Josephine, he had had a lasting and ardent desire to put a stop
finally to his indulgence, that he had been indulgent to superhuman
lengths in the firm conviction that indulgence would reach its true
limits, nevertheless; if he had indulged her more than necessary, it
was only in order to speed the matter up, only in order to spoil
Josephine and incite her to more and more demands, until she had
actually made this last one; and then indeed he had decided–
abruptly, because it had been long prepared-on the final, con–
clusive refusal. Now this was most certainly not the case; the
people do not have to play such tricks; besides, their esteem for
Josephine is sincere and well-proven, and Josephine's demand was
without a doubt so extreme that any simple child could have pre–
dicted its outcome. Yet it is possible that such conjectures play a
part
in Josephine's version of the affair and add more bitterness to
the pain of having been refused.
But even if she does entertain such conjectures, they do not
frighten her off. Lately the struggle has become even sharper;
whereas before she only waged it with words, she has now begun to
ase
other means-more effective ones, in her opinion, but in ours
more fraught with danger to herself.
Some. of us think that the reason Josephine is becoming so
urgent is that she feels herself growing older, her voice getting
weaker, and therefore it seems high time to her to begin her final
lb'llggle for recognition.
I
do not believe this is so.
If
it were,
Josephine would not be Josephine. There is no such thing for her
U
growing old and losing her voice. When she wants something
e is not influenced in her purpose by external things, but by an
er logic. She reaches for the highest laurels, not because they
mfor a moment to hang a little lower, but because they actually
the highest; if it were in her power, she would hang them even
er.
But in any event this contempt for external obstacles does not
