reeable to her to receive the reproaches of a writer
who, with his admirable talent, could not become resigned to meet with
less success than other litterateurs not so good as he.

The termination of their business relations is recounted thus:
"_Illusions perdues_ appears this week. On the 17th I have a meeting
to close up all claims from Madame Bechet and Werdet. So there is one
cause of torment the less."

If M. Hughes Rebell is correct in his surmise, at least a part of
Werdet's admiration for the novelist was inspired by his wife, who had
become a great admirer of the works of the young writer, not well
known at that time. Madame Werdet persuaded her husband to speak to
Madame Bechet about Balzac, and to advise her to publish his works.
Her husband did so, but Madame Werdet did not stop at this. She
convinced him that he should leave Madame Bechet and become Balzac's
sole publisher; this he was for five years, and, moreover, served him
as his banker. M. Rebell thinks also that Madame Werdet is the
"delicious _bourgeoise_" referred to in Balzac's letter to Madame
Surville.

MADAME ROSSINI--MADAME RECAMIER--LA DUCHESSE DE DINO--LA COMTESSE
APPONY--MADAME DE BERNARD--MADAME DAVID--LA BARONNE GERARD

"You wish to know if I have met Foedora, if she is true? A woman
from cold Russia, the Princess Bagration, is supposed in Paris to
be the model for her. I have reached the seventy-second woman who
has had the impertinence to recognize herself in that character.
They are all of ripe age. Even Madame Recamier is willing to
_foedorize herself_. Not a word of all that is true. I made
Foedora out of two women whom I have known without having been
intimate with them. Observation sufficed me, besides a few
confidences. There are also some kind souls who will have it that
I have courted the handsomest of Parisian courtesans and have
concealed myself behind her curtains. These are calumnies. I have
met a Foedora; but that one I shall not paint; besides, it has
been a long time since _La Peau de Chagrin_ was published."

Quoting Amedee Pichot and Dr. Meniere, S. de Lovenjoul states that
Mademoiselle Olympe Pelissier is the woman whom Balzac used as a model
for his Foedora, and that, like Raphael, he concealed himself in her
bedroom. She is indeed the woman without a heart; she kept in the rue
Neuve-du-Luxembourg a salon frequented by noted political people such
as the Duc de Fitz-James. Being