breezes, the relations between her and her son were cordial at this
time. Possibly she was pleased at his removal from the influence of
Madame de Berny, of whom she was always jealous; and certainly she was
delighted at the idea of his marriage. The intended daughter-in-law,
whose name is never mentioned, was evidently a widow with a fortune,
so the affair was highly satisfactory. The lady was expected to pay a
visit to Mere, near Sache; and Balzac felt obliged to go there three
times a week to see whether she had arrived--a duty which interfered
sadly with his work. If he seemed likely to prosper in his suit, she
was to be impressed by the sight of his groom and horses. However,
this matrimonial business transaction was not successful, as we hear
nothing more of it, and the next direction his mother receives is to
the effect that she had better sell all his stable equipage.

Whether Madame de Balzac resented these demands on her, or whether she
was disgusted at Balzac's failure to secure a rich wife, and thus put
an end to the family troubles, we do not know; but when he returned to
Paris at the end of the year, to his great disappointment she refused
to live with him, and left him alone when he sorely needed sympathy
and consolation.

It is curiously characteristic of Balzac, that at this very time, when
in secret he contemplates marriage, he writes to Madame Carraud that
he is going to Aix to run after some one who will perhaps laugh at him
--one of those aristocratic women she would no doubt hold in
abhorrence: "An angel beauty in whom one imagines a beautiful soul, a
true duchess, very disdainful, very loving, delicate, witty, a
coquette, a novelty to me! One of those phenomena who efface
themselves from time to time, and who says she loves me, who wishes to
keep me with her in a palace at Venice (for I tell you everything)
--who wishes that I shall in future write only for her, one of those
women one must worship on one's knees if she desires it, and whom one
has the utmost pleasure in conquering--a dream woman! Jealous of
everything! Ah, it would be better to be at Angouleme at the
Poudrerie, very sensible, very quiet, listening to the mills working,
making oneself sticky with truffles, learning from you how to pocket a
billiard-ball, laughing and talking, than to lose both time and
life!"[*]

[*] "Correspondance," vol. i. p. 161.

After his stay at Sache, Balzac went on to the Poudrerie, where he
became i