ing her interest in his
happiness, writes to her a joyful letter the day after his marriage:
"As to Madame de Balzac, what more can I say about her? I may be
envied for having won her: with the exception of her daughter, there
is no woman in this land who can compare with her. She is indeed the
diamond of Poland, the gem of this illustrious house of Rzewuski."
After explaining to her that this was a marriage of pure affection, as
his wife had given her fortune to her children and wished to live only
for them and for him, Balzac tells his sister that he hoped to present
Madame Honore de Balzac to her soon, signing the letter, "Your brother
Honore at the summit of happiness."

A great attraction for Balzac in the home of Madame Surville were his
two nieces, Sophie and Valentine, to whom he was devoted, and with
whom he frequently spent his evenings. The story is told that one
evening on entering his sister's home, he asked for paper and pencil,
which were given him. After spending about an hour, not in making
notes, as one might imagine, but in writing columns of figures and
adding them, he discovered that he owed fifty-nine thousand francs,
and exclaimed that his only recourse was to blow his brains out, or
throw himself into the Seine! When questioned by his niece Sophie in
tears as to whether he would not finish the novel he had begun for
her, he declared that he was wrong in becoming so discouraged, to work
for her would be a pleasure; he would no longer be depressed, but
would finish her book, which would be a masterpiece, sell it for three
thousand _ecus_, pay all his creditors within two years, amass a dowry
for her and become a peer of France!

Balzac had forbidden his nieces to read his books, promising to write
one especially for them. The book referred to here is _Ursule Mirouet_
which he dedicated to Sophie as follows:

"To Mademoiselle Sophie Surville.

"It is a real pleasure, my dear niece, to dedicate to you a book of
which the subject and the details have gained the approbation--so
difficult to secure--of a young girl to whom the world is yet
unknown, and who will make no compromise with the high principles
derived from a pious education. You young girls are a public to be
dreaded; you ought never to be permitted to read any books less
pure than your own pure souls, and you are forbidden certain
books, just as you are not allowed to see society as it really is.
Is it not enough, th