tiques"--Madame
Hanska's life before she met Balzac--Description of her appearance
--"Louis Lambert"--Disinterested conduct on the part of Madame de
Berny--Relations between Balzac and his mother--Balzac and the
Marquise de Castries--His despair.

The year 1832 was a crisis and a turning-point in the history of
Balzac's private life.

Old relations changed their aspect; he received a terrible and
mortifying wound to his heart and to his vanity; and while he
staggered under this blow, a new interest, not in the beginning
absorbing, but destined in time to engulf all others, crept at first
almost unnoticed into his life.

He was now thirty-three years old; it was time that he should perform
the duty of a French citizen and should settle down and marry; and as
a preliminary, it seemed necessary that Madame de Berny should no
longer continue to occupy her predominant place in his life. She was,
as we know twenty-two years older than he, and was a woman capable not
only of romantic attachment, but also of the most disinterested
conduct where her affections were concerned. She saw clearly that,
having formed Balzac, helped him practically, taught him, given him
useful introductions--in short, made him--the time had now come when
it would be for his good that she should retire partially into the
background; and she had the courage to conceive, and the power to
make, the sacrifice. He, on his side, felt the idea of the proposed
separation keenly, and never forgot all his life what he owed to the
"dilecta," or ceased to feel a deep and faithful affection for her.
Still, for him there were compensations, which did not exist for the
woman who was growing old. He was famous, on the way to attain his
goal; and he was regarded as the champion of misunderstood and misused
women. Therefore, as the species has always been a large one, letters
poured in upon him from all parts of Europe--England being the
exception--letters telling him how exactly he had gauged the
circumstances, sentiments, and misfortunes of his unknown
correspondents, asking his advice, expressing intense admiration for
his writings, and pouring out the inmost feelings and experiences of
the writers. The position was intoxicating for the man who, a few
years before, had been unknown and disregarded; and the fact that
Balzac never forgot his old friendships in the excitement of the
adulation lavished upon him, is a proof that his own belief in the
real ste