_Memoires_, Madame d'Abrantes
refers frequently to the kindness of the great Emperor, and it is
doubtless to please her that Balzac, in the _denouement_ of _Une
tenebreuse Affaire_, has Napoleon pardon two out of the three
condemned persons. Although the novelist may have heard of this affair
during his sojourns in Touraine, it is evident that the origin of the
lawsuit and the causes of the conduct of Fouche were revealed to him
by Madame Junot.

Who better than Madame d'Abrantes could have given Balzac the
background for the scene of Corsican hatred so vividly portrayed in
_La Vendetta_? Balzac's preference for General Junot is noticeable
when he wishes to mention some hero of the army of the Republic or of
the Empire; the Duc and Duchesse d'Abrantes are included among the
noted lodgers in _Autre Etude de Femme_. It is doubtless to please the
Duchess that Balzac mentions also the Comte de Narbonne (_Le Medecin
de Campagne_).

Impregnating his mind with the details of the Napoleonic reign, so
vividly portrayed in _Le Colonel Chabert_, _Le Medecin de Campagne_,
_La Femme de trente Ans_ and others, she was probably the direct
author of several observations regarding Napoleon that impress one as
being strikingly true. Balzac read to her his stories of the Empire,
and though she rarely wept, she melted into tears at the disaster of
the Beresina, in the life of Napoleon related by a soldier in a barn.

The Generale Junot had a great influence over Balzac; she enlightened
him also about women, painting them not as they should be, but as they
are.[*]

[*] M. Joseph Turquain states that when the correspondence of Madame
d'Abrantes and Balzac, to which he has had access, is published,
one will be able to determine exactly the role she has played in
the formation of the talent of the writer, and in the development
of his character. His admirable work has been very helpful in the
preparation of this study of Madame d'Abrantes.

During the last years of the life of Madame d'Abrantes, a somber tint
spread over her gatherings, which gradually became less numerous. Her
financial condition excited little sympathy, and her friends became
estranged from her as the result of her poverty. Under her gaiety and
in spite of her courage, this distress became more apparent with time.
Her health became impaired; yet she continued to write when unable to
sit up, so great was her need for money. From her high rank she had