shed
under his protection in London, it was evident how double a game he had
been playing, and how determined he was to save himself at all events
from being cut out by one artful woman at least.

* * * * *

HONORE DE BALZAC

Eugenie Grandet

Honore de Balzac was born May 20, 1799, at Tours, in France,
and died at Paris, Aug. 18, 1850. His early life was filled
with hard work and oppressed by poverty. He attained success
by the publication of "Les Derniers Chouans" in 1829, and he
soon established his fame as the leader of realistic fiction.
In spite of frequent coarseness, he stands for all time as a
great writer by reason of his powers of character analysis.
"Eugenie Grandet" is, justly, one of the most famous of
Balzac's novels. As a study of avarice, in the character of
old Grandet, it is superb, and the picture of manners in the
country town of Saumur is painted as only a supreme artist
like Balzac could paint it. The pathos of Eugenie's wasted
life, the long suffering of Mme. Grandet, the craft and
cunning of the Des Grassins and the Cruchots, the fidelity of
Nanon, and the frank egotism of Charles Grandet--all these
things combine to make the book a masterpiece of French
fiction. "Eugenie Grandet" was written in the full vigour of
Balzac's genius in 1833, and was published in the first volume
of "Scenes of Provincial Life" in 1834, and finally included
in the "Human Comedy" in 1843.

_I.--The Rich Miser of Saumur_

The town of Saumur is old-fashioned and in every way "provincial." Its
houses are dark within, its shops, undecorated, recall the workshops of
the Middle Ages. Its inhabitants gossip freely, according to the fashion
of country towns, and the arrival of a stranger in the town is an
important item of news. The trade of Saumur depends upon the vineyards
of the district. The prosperity of landowners, vinegrowers, coopers, and
innkeepers rises or falls according to whether the season is good or bad
for the grapes.

A certain house in Saumur, larger and more sombre than most, and once
the residence of nobility, belonged to M. Grandet.

This M. Grandet was a master cooper in 1789, a good man of business with
a remarkable head for accounts. He prospered in the Revolution, bought
the confiscated Church lands at a low price, married the daughter of a
wealthy tim