ing which time Louise suffered from a great
misfortune, the nature of which she kept secret, the letters between
them ceased altogether.

Balzac had now left his garret, and was established in the
drawing-room on the second floor of 13, Rue des Batailles, which is
exactly described in "La Fille aux Yeux d'Or." The room was very
luxurious, and the details had been thought out with much care.[*] One
end of it had square corners, the other end was rounded, and the
corners cut off to form the semicircle were connected by a narrow dark
passage, and contained--one a camp bedstead, and the other a
writing-table. A secret door led to this hiding-place, and here Balzac
took refuge when pursued by emissaries from the Garde Nationale,
creditors, or enraged editors. The scheme of colour in the room was
white and flame-colour shading to the deepest pink, relieved by
arabesques of black. A huge divan, fifty feet long and as broad as a
mattress, ran round the horseshoe. This, like the rest of the
furniture, was covered in white cashmere decked with flame-coloured
and black bows, and the back of it was higher than the numerous
cushions by which it was adorned. Above it the walls were hung with
pink Indian muslin over red material, the flame-colour and black
arabesques being repeated. The curtains were pink, the mantelpiece
clock and candlesticks white marble and gold, the carpet and _portieres_
of rich Oriental design, and the chandelier and candelabra to light the
divan of silver gilt. About the room were elegant baskets containing
white and red flowers, and in the place of honour on the table in the
middle was M. de Hanski's magnificent gold and malachite inkstand.
Balzac showed the glories of this splendid apartment with infantile
pride and delight to visitors; and here, reckless of his pecuniary
embarrassments, he gave a grand dinner to Theophile Gautier, the
Marquis de Belloy, and Boulanger, and entertained them in the evening
with good stories "a la Rabelais."

[*] See "Honore de Balzac" in "Portraits Contemporains," by Theophile
Gautier.

About this time Balzac started the association he called the "Cheval
Rouge," which was intended to be a mutual help society among a number
of friends, who were to push and praise each other's compositions, and
to rise as one man against any one who dared to attack a member of the
alliance. The idea was a good one; but there was a comic side to it as
conducted by Balzac, and the "Cheval