shelter in a loving heart, are the best
consolations I can have. . . . To dedicate myself to the happiness
of a woman is my constant dream, but I do not believe marriage and
love can exist in poverty. . . . I work too hard and I am too much
worried with other things to be able to pay attention to those
sorrows which sleep and make their nest in the heart. It may be
that I shall come to the end of my life, without having realized
the hopes I entertained from them. . . . As regards my soul, I am
profoundly sad. My work alone keeps me alive. Will there never be
a woman for me in this world? My fits of despondency and bodily
weariness come upon me more frequently, and weigh upon me more
heavily; to sink under this crushing load of fruitless labor,
without having near me the gentle caressing presence of woman, for
whom I have worked so much!"

Though Balzac and his mother were never congenial, he became very
lonely after she left him in 1832. In the autumn of that year he had a
break with the Duchesse de Castries, so he began the new year by
summing up his trials and pouring forth his longings to Madame Carraud
as he could do to no other woman, not even to his _Dilecta_. In
response to this despondent epistle, she showed her broad sympathetic
friendship by writing him a beautiful and comforting letter, in which
she regretted not being able to live in Paris with him, so as to see
him daily and give him the desired affection.

Not only through the hospitality of her home, but by sending various
gifts, she ministered to Balzac's needs or caprices. To make his study
more attractive, she indulged his craving for elegance and grace by
surprising him with the present of a carpet and a lovely tea service.
In thanking her for her thoughtfulness, he informed her that she had
inspired some of the pages in the _Medicin de Campagne_.

Besides being so intimate a friend of Madame Carraud, the novelist was
also a friend of M. Carraud, whom he called "Commandant Piston," and
discussed his business plans with him before going to Corsica and
Sardinia to investigate the silver mines. M. Carraud had a fine
scientific mind; he approved of Balzac's scheme, and thought of going
with him; his wife was astonished on hearing this, since he never left
the house even to look after his own estate. However, his natural
habit asserted itself and he gave up the project.

Madame Carraud was much interested in politics, and many