[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 436.

However, his expedition and its attendant suffering were not
useless,[*] as the "four or five successive illnesses and the
sufferings from the climate, which I have laughed at for her sake,
have touched that noble soul; so that she is, as a sensible woman,
more influenced by them, than afraid of the few little debts which
remain to be paid, and I see that everything will go well." On March
11th, 1850, he writes from Berditchef that "everything is now arranged
for the affair his mother knows of," but that the greatest discretion
is still necessary. Madame de Balzac is given minute directions about
the flowers which are to decorate the house in the Rue Fortunee, as a
surprise to Madame Honore; and as we read, we can imagine Balzac's
pride and delight when he wrote the name. His ailments and sufferings
are forgotten, and the letter sounds as though written by an
enthusiastic boy. He will send from Frankfort to let Madame de Balzac
know the exact day that he and his bride will reach Paris; and in
order that the mystery may be preserved, will merely say, "Do not
forget on such a day to have the garden arranged,"[+] and his mother
will understand what he means. The whole house is evidently
photographed in his mind like the houses in his novels. He knows the
exact position of each vase: of the big jardiniere in the first room,
the one in the Japanese drawing-room, the two in the domed boudoir,
and the two tiny ones in the grey apartment. They are all to be filled
with flowers; but the marquetry jardiniere in the green drawing-room,
evidently the future Madame Honore's special abode, is to be filled
with "_belles, belles fleurs_!"

[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 438.

[+] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 444.

The wedding took place at seven o'clock on the morning of March 14th,
1850, at the church of Saint Barbe at Berditchef. In the unavoidable
absence of the Bishop of Jitomir, the ceremony was performed by the
Abbe Comte Czarouski, whom Balzac calls a holy and virtuous priest,
and likens to Abbe Hinaux, the Duchesse d'Angouleme's confessor.

The Countess Anna accompanied her mother, and was in the highest
spirits; and the witnesses were the Comte Georges Mniszech, the Comte
Gustave Olizar brother-in-law to the Abbe Comte Czarouski, and the
cure of the parish of Berditchef. Madame Honore de Balzac had given
her capital to her children, but received in exchange a large income,
a