had a
difficult role to play. If she condemned Balzac, she would be lacking
in friendship; if she agreed with him, she would be both disrespectful
to her husband and unjust. Like the clever woman that she was, she
said both were wrong, and when she thought their anger had passed, she
wrote a charming letter to Balzac urging him to come dine with her,
since he owed her this much because he had refused her a short time
before. She begged that they might become good friends again and enjoy
the beautiful days laughing together. He must come to dinner the next
Sunday, Easter Sunday, for she was expecting two guests from Normandy
who had most thrilling adventures to relate, and they would be
delighted to meet him. Again, her sister, Madame O'Donnel, was ill,
but would get up to see him, for she felt that the mere sight of him
would cure her.

Anybody but Balzac would have accepted this invitation of Madame de
Girardin's, were it only to show his gratitude for what she had done
for him; but Balzac was so fiery and so mortified by the letter of M.
de Girardin that, without taking time to reflect, he wrote to Madame
Hanska:

"I have said adieu to that mole-hill of Gay, Emile de Girardin and
Company. I seized the first opportunity, and it was so favorable
that I broke off, point-blank. A disagreeable affair came near
following; but my susceptibility as man of the pen was calmed by
one of my college friends, ex-captain in the ex-Royal Guard, who
advised me. It all ended with a piquant speech replying to a
jest."

However, in answering the invitation of Madame de Girardin, Balzac
wrote most courteously expressing his regrets at Madame O'Donnel's
illness and pleading work as his excuse for not accepting. This did
not prevent the ardent peacemaker from making another attempt. Taking
advantage of her husband's absence a few weeks later, she invited
Balzac to lunch with Madame O'Donnel and herself. But time had not yet
done its work, so Balzac declined, saying it would be illogical for
him to accept when M. de Girardin was not at home, since he did not go
there when he was present. The following excerpts from his letters,
declining her various invitations, show that Balzac regarded her as
his friend:

"The regret I experience is caused quite as much by the blue eyes
and blond hair of a lady who I believe to be my friend--and whom I
would gladly have for mine--as by those black eyes which you
recall to my reme