ris on the 22nd, and started
on his fateful journey. At Neufchatel, he went to the Hotel du
Faucon,[*] in the centre of the town, but found a note begging him to
be on the Promenade du Faubourg next day from one to four; and he at
once removed to the Hotel du Faubourg, so that he might be near the
Villa Andrie. Madame Hanska no doubt shared to a certain extent his
tremors of anticipation; but as a beauty and great lady she would
naturally feel more confident than Balzac--especially when she had
donned with care her most elegant and becoming toilette, and felt
armed at every point for the encounter.

[*] "Un Roman d'Amour," by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul,
p. 75.

The Promenade du Faubourg at Neufchatel overlooks the lake, and is
terminated by a promontory known as the Cret, a splendid point of
vantage, whence there is a view of the Villa Andrie and over the
gardens of the Hotel du Faubourg. Here, on the afternoon of September
26th, 1833, among others strollers, were two who might have seemed to
an observant eye to be waiting for somebody: one was a stout,
inelegant little man, with something bizarre about his costume, and
the other a dark, handsome lady, dressed in the height of fashion, and
perhaps known to some of the loungers as the rich Russian Countess.
The manner of their meeting is uncertain; but whether Madame Hanska,
with one of Balzac's novels in her hand, recognised him at once and
rushed towards him joyously, or whether, as another story goes, she
was at first disenchanted by his unromantic appearance and drew back,
matters little.[*] In either case, according to Balzac's letter to his
sister written on his return to Paris, they exchanged their first kiss
under the shade of a great oak in the Val de Travers, and swore to
wait for each other; and he speaks rapturously of Madame Hanska's
beautiful black hair, of her fine dark skin and her pretty little
hands. He mentions, too, her colossal riches, though these do not of
course count beside her personal charms; but the remark is
characteristic, and Balzac's pride and exultation are very
apparent.[+] At last he has found his "grande dame," endowed with
youth, beauty and riches, one who would not be ashamed to live with
him in a garret, and yet would, by her birth, be able to hold her own
in the most exclusive society in the world.

[*] "Un Roman d'Amour," by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul,
p. 75.

[+] I have seen in M. de Spoelber