ions, Mlles
Denise and Severine Wylezynska, who generally inhabited the
summer-house, christened by Balzac "La Demoiselliere," they were the
only civilised people in the midst of a huge waste populated by
peasants. M. de Hanski often suffered from "blue devils," which did
not make him a cheerful companion; and when Madame Hanska had
performed a few graceful duties, as chatelaine to the poor of the
neighbourhood, there was no occupation left except reading or writing
letters. She was an intelligent and intellectual woman; and Balzac's
novels, not at first fully appreciated in France because of their
deficiencies in style, were eagerly seized on in Germany, Austria, and
Russia. She read them with delight; and her natural desire for action,
her longing also to pour out, herself unknown, the secret aspirations
and yearnings of her heart to some one who would understand her,
prompted the first letter; which, according to M. de Spoelberch de
Lovenjoul, was dictated by her to Anna's governess, Mlle. Henriette
Borel. So she started lightly on the road which was to lead her, the
leisured and elegant great lady suffering only from ennui, to the
period of her life during which she would toil hour after hour at
writing, would be overwhelmed by business, pestered by duns and
creditors, overworked, overburdened, and over-worried. She was
certainly not very fortunate, for she seems never to have experienced
the passionate love which might have made up for everything.

[*] Balzac invariably talks of M. de Hanski and Madame Hanska, as do
other contemporary writers.

Till the time when she first put herself into communication with
Balzac, her life had not been cheerful. A member of a Polish great
family, the Countess Eve Rzewuska was born at the Chateau of
Pohrbyszcze on January 25, 1804 or 1806. She was one of a large
family, having three brothers and three sisters, nearly all of whom
played distinguished parts in France or Russia; and her eldest
brother, Count Henry Rzewuski, was one of the most popular writers of
Poland. In 1818 or 1822 she married the rich M. Vencelas de Hanski,
who was twenty-five years her senior, an old gentleman of limited
mind; pompous, unsociable, and often depressed; but apparently fond of
his wife, and willing to allow her the travelling and society which he
did not himself care for. Madame Hanska had many troubles in her
married life, as she lost four out of her five children; and being an
intensely m