failings in her in
thinking of her misfortunes, of the passion that had almost cost
her her life. Was it not an imposing spectacle (still further
magnified by reflection) to see in that vast, silent salon this
woman, separated from the entire world, who for three years had
lived in the depths of a little valley, far from the city, alone
with her memories of a brilliant, happy, ardent youth, once so
filled with fetes and constant homage, now given over to the
horrors of nothingness? The smile of this woman proclaimed a high
sense of her own value."

In the postscript to the _Physiologie du Mariage_, Balzac mentions a
gesture of one of these "intellectual" women, who interrupts herself
to touch one of her nostrils with the forefinger of her right hand in
a coquettish manner. In _La Femme abandonnee_, Madame de Beauseant has
the same gesture. Another gesture of Madame de Beauseant in _La Femme
abandonnee_ indicates that Balzac had in mind the Duchesse d'Abrantes:
". . . Then, with her other hand, she made a gesture as if to pull the
bell-rope. The charming gesture, the gracious threat, no doubt, called
up some sad thought, some memory of her happy life, of the time when
she could be wholly charming and graceful, when the gladness of her
heart justified every caprice, and gave one more charm to her
slightest movement. The lines of her forehead gathered between her
brows, and the expression of her face grew dark in the soft
candle-light. . . ." The Duchesse d'Abrantes had on two occasions rung
to dismiss her lovers, M. de Montrond and General Sebastiani. Balzac
had doubtless heard her relate these incidents, and they are contained
in the _Journal intime_, which she gave him.[*]

[*] Madame d'Abrantes presented several objects of a literary nature
to Balzac, among others, a book of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a few
leaves of which he presented to Madame Hanska for her collection
of autographs.

In _La Femme abandonnee_, Balzac describes Madame de Beauseant as
having taken refuge in Normandy, "after a notoriety which women for
the most part envy and condemn, especially when youth and beauty in
some way excuse the transgression." Can it be that the novelist thus
condones the fault of this noted character because he wishes to pardon
the _liaison_ of Madame d'Abrantes with the Comte de Metternich?

Is it then because so many traces of Madame d'Abrantes are found in
_La Femme abandonnee_, and allusion