mind while writing
this story, for in response to the criticism that Modest was too
clever, he wrote Madame Hanska that she and her cousin Caliste who had
served him as models for his heroine were superior to her. He first
dedicated this work to her under the name of _un Etrangere_, but
seeing the mistake the public made in ascribing this dedication to the
Princesse Belgiojoso, he at a later date specified the nationality,
and inscribed the book:

"To a Polish Lady:

"Daughter of an enslaved land, an angel in love, a demon in
imagination, a child in faith, an old man in experience, a man in
brain, a woman in heart, a giant in hope, a mother in suffering
and a poet in your dreams,--this work, in which your love and your
fancy, your faith, your experience, your suffering, your hopes and
your dreams are like chains by which hangs a web less lovely than
the poetry cherished in your soul--the poetry whose expression
when it lights up your countenance is, to those who admire you,
what the characters of a lost language are to the learned--this
work is yours.

"DE BALZAC."

In _La fausse Maitresse_, Balzac represented Madame Hanska in the role
of the Countess Clementine Laginska, who was silently loved by Thaddee
Paz, a Polish refugee. This Thaddee Paz was no other than Thaddee
Wylezynski, a cousin who adored her, and who died in 1844. Balzac
learned of the warm attachment existing between Madame Hanska and her
cousin soon after meeting her, and compared his faithful friend Borget
to her Thaddee. On hearing of the death of Thaddee, he writes her:
"The death of Thaddee, which you announce to me, grieves me. You have
told me so much of him, that I loved one who loved you so well,
_although_! You have doubtless guessed why I called Paz, Thaddee. Poor
dear one, I shall love you for all those whose love you lose!"

Balzac longed to be free from his debts, and have undisturbed
possession of _Les Jardies_, where they could live _en pigeons
heureux_. Ever inclined to give advice, he suggested to her that she
should have her interests entirely separate form Anna's, quoting the
axiom, _N'ayez aucune collision d'interet avec vos enfants_, and that
she was wrong in refusing a bequest from her deceased husband. She
should give up all luxuries, dismiss all necessary employees and not
spend so much of her income but invest it. He felt that she and her
daughter wer