care
much about it, and has only bought it to please her husband; but it
seems to have pressed the unfortunate husband rather into the
background, and to have become the chief centre of its owner's
thoughts and solicitude.

The chilling unsatisfactory impression the letter leaves on the
reader, however, is not conveyed so much by what is said by Balzac's
newly-married wife, as by what she leaves unsaid. It must be
remembered that the Countess Eve possessed the power of expressing
herself with the utmost warmth, and with even exaggerated emphasis,
when she saw fit occasion for the display of feeling. We must also
keep the fact in mind, that in writing to the daughter who was her
intimate friend, she would naturally give some indications of her real
self; and though it might be impossible for one of her curiously
secretive temperament to lift the veil altogether, and to open her
heart without reserve, she would be likely in some way to enable the
reader to realise her mental attitude. Therefore it is disconcerting
and disquieting to discover that the one noticeable characteristic of
the letter, is utter want of feeling. No anxiety is expressed about
the growing illness of the sick man, not a word tells of fears so
terrible that she hardly dares breathe them, about the ultimate result
of his malady; on the contrary, everything is taken as a matter of
course, and as though the writer had expected it beforehand. There is
not even a recognition of Balzac as her husband; he is merely "our
poor dear friend," a person for whom she feels vague pity, and in whom
Anna's degree of interest is likely to be the same as her own.

Balzac was only married for about five months, and very little is
known of his life during that time. It is certain, however, that his
marriage did not bring him the happiness which he had expected, and
Madame Hanska's letter from Frankfort helps to explain the reason of
the tragedy. Perhaps he had raised his hopes too high for fulfilment
to be a possibility in this world of compromise, and very likely his
sufferings had made him irritable and exacting. Nevertheless, so quick
a wearing out of the faithful and passionate love which had lasted for
sixteen years, and so sudden a killing of the joy which had permeated
the man's whole being when he had at last attained his goal, seems a
hard task for a woman to accomplish; and can only be explained by her
employment of the formless yet resistless force of pure i