here were
no feet at which to lay that which men may put upon my head."

One of the first of these friendships was that formed with Madame de
Berny, nee (Laure-Louise-Antoinette) Hinner. She was the daughter of
a German musician, a harpist at the court of Louis XVI, and of
Louise-Marguerite-Emelie Quelpec de Laborde, a lady in waiting at the
court of Marie Antoinette. M. Hinner died in 1784, after which Madame
Hinner was married to Francois-Augustin Reinier de Jarjayes,
adjutant-general of the army. M. Jarjayes was one of the best known
persons belonging to the Royalist party during the Revolution, a
champion of the Queen, whom he made many attempts to save. He was one
of her most faithful friends, was intrusted with family keepsakes, and
was made lieutenant-general under Louis XVIII. Madame Jarjayes was
much loved by the Queen; she was also implicated in the plots. Before
dying, Marie Antoinette sent her a lock of her hair and a pair of
earrings. Laure Hinner was married April 8, 1793, to M. Gabriel de
Berny, almost nine years her senior, who was of the oldest nobility.
Madame de Berny, her husband, her mother and her stepfather were
imprisoned for nine months, and were not released until after the fall
of Robespierre.

The married life of Madame de Berny was unhappy; she was intelligent
and sentimental; he, capricious and morose. She seems to have realized
the type of the _femme incomprise_; she too was an _etrangere_, and
bore some traits of her German origin. Coming into Balzac's life at
about the age of forty, this _femme de quarante ans_ became for him
the _amie_ and the companion who was to teach him life. Still
beautiful, having been reared in intimate court circles, having been
the confidante of plotters and the guardian of secrets, possessed of
rare trinkets and souvenirs--what an open book was this _memoire
vivante_, and with what passion did the young interrogator absorb the
pages! Here he found unknown anecdotes, ignored designs, and here the
sources of his great plots, _Les Chouans_, _Madame de la Chanterie_,
and _Un Episode sous la Terreur_.

All this is what she could teach him, aided perhaps by his mother, who
lived until 1837. Here is the secret of Balzac's royalism; here is
where he first learned of the great ladies that appear in his work,
largely portrayed to him by the _amie_ who watched over his youth and
guided his maturity.

Having consulted the _Almanach des 25,000 adresses_, Madame Ruxton