to her seven times during his absence, that the letters were
posted by his hostess and that he did not wish to abuse the
hospitality with which he was so royally and magnificently
entertained. He resented his mother's dictating to him, a man of fifty
years of age, as to how often he should write to his nieces, for while
he enjoyed receiving their letters, he thought they should feel
honored in receiving letters from him whenever he had time to write to
them.

When the poor mother attempted to be gracious to her son by sending
him a box of bonbons, she only brought him trouble, for she packed it
in newspapers, and in passing the custom-house, it was taken out and
the candy crushed. Instead of thanking her for her good intentions, he
rebuked her for her stupidity in regard to sending printed matter into
Russia, as it endangered his stay there.

Balzac was always striving to pay his mother his long-standing
indebtedness, but the Revolution of 1848, in connection with his
continued illness, made this impossible. This burden of debt was also,
at this time, preventing his obtaining a successful termination of his
mission to Russia, for, as he explained to his mother, the lady
concerned did not care to marry him while he was still encumbered with
debt. Being a woman past forty, she desired that nothing should
disturb the tranquillity in which she wished to live.

Owing to this critical situation and to his poor health, Balzac had
repeatedly requested his mother never to write depressing news to him,
but she paid little attention to this request and sent him a letter
hinting at trouble in so vague a manner and with such disquieting
expressions that, in his extremely nervous condition, it might have
proved fatal to him. Yet it did not affect him so seriously as it did
Madame Hanska, who read the letter to him, for owing to his terrible
illness and the method of treatment, his eyes had become so weak that
he could no longer see in the evening. Madame Hanska was so deeply
interested in everything that concerned Balzac that this news made her
very ill. For them to live in suspense for forty days without knowing
anything definite was far worse than it would have been had his mother
enumerated in detail the various misfortunes. From the preceding
revelations of the disposition of Madame de Balzac, one can easily
understand how it happened that her son has immortalized some of her
traits in the character of _Cousine Bette_.

Duri