ndifference.

Balzac's awakening, the knowledge that the absolute perfection he had
dreamed of was only an ideal created by his own fancy, must have been
inexpressibly bitter. Utter moral collapse and vertigo were his
portion, and chaos thundered in his ears, during his sudden descent
from the heights clothed with brilliant sunshine, to the puzzling
depths, where he groped in darkness and sought in vain for firm
footing. "Our poor dear friend" seems, for the moment, to have merited
even more sympathy than the measure accorded to him by his wife, in
her intervals of leisure after caring for her pearl necklace.

Balzac's mother had, as we have already seen, taken up her abode with
Madame Surville, long before the often-deferred appearance in Paris of
her son and daughter-in-law; but Honore had given directions, that at
any rate she was to leave the Rue Fortunee before he and his bride
arrived. It would, he said, compromise her dignity to help with the
unpacking, and Madame Honore should visit her mother-in-law next day
to pay her respects. Balzac was anxious that the first meeting should
take place at Laure's house rather than at Madame de Balzac's lodging
at Suresnes, as it was now impossible for him to mount any steps, and
there were fewer stairs at No. 47, Rue des Martyrs than at his
mother's abode.[*] His health, he wrote, was so deplorable that he
would not remain for long in Paris, but would go with his wife to
Biarritz to take the waters.

[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 456.

The travellers did not after all arrive in Paris till near the end of
May. This is proved by a letter from Madame de Balzac[*] to a friend,
written on the 20th of that month, in which she says that they are now
expected every day, but that their progress is a slow one, owing to
her son's illness and the heavy condition of the roads. She adds that
she has now been in bed for three months, so Laure must evidently have
acted as her deputy, in the task of superintending Francois'
preparations in the Rue Fortunee. No doubt Francois worked
strenuously, as he, like all Balzac's servants, was devoted to his
master, though on this occasion he unwittingly provided him with a
ghastly home-coming.

[*] "Une Page perdue de Honore de Balzac," by the Vicomte de
Spoelberch de Lovenjoul.

The travellers did not arrive at the Rue Fortunee till late at
night.[*] The house was brilliantly lit, and through the windows they
could see the flowers with