"Hah, no, if that reprobate knew about this place he'd be here himself." There's no judgement in that. Who wouldn't love to visit a library with an endless open supply of booze and very friendly patrons?

"Anyway, why should your characters bother with you, any more than they would some other man? If you'd get along with them, then you would; if you wouldn't, you won't. If you feel responsible for them--" he shrugs. "You gave them what you thought they needed. It's no less than any parent should do, and if you failed them it's because you didn't know better. The most devoted parents can't keep a man from his own bad choices." As Bahorel has reason to know. "If they want to claim their life is theirs to be upset about, and not yours to command, I don't see how they can blame you for its turnings."

Bahorel would quarrel with Hugo, if he met him here, just as he would have back in Paris; over politics, or questions of society. Over his own fate? Ridiculous. "And the world they live in-- hell, there's no way Hugo built our whole France; it exists in universes where we don't. So you're probably not at fault for the world in your stories, either-- no more than any man's to blame for the world he makes around him, anyway."