h no money to pay a cab fare, there was always the agonising
question as to whether on arrival his boots would be of spotless
cleanliness, while the extravagance of a pair of white gloves meant a
diminution in food which it was not pleasant to contemplate. Then,
too, he felt savage disgust at the elegant costumes and smart
cabriolets owned by empty-headed fops with insufferable airs of
conquest, who looked at him askance, and to whom he could not prove
the genius that was in him, or give voice to his belief that some day
he would dominate them all. The restlessness and discomfort, and at
the same time the sense of unknown and fascinating possibilities which
are the birthright of talented youth, and in the portrayal of which
Balzac is supreme, must have been well known to him by experience; and
his almost Oriental love of beauty and luxury made his life of
grinding poverty peculiarly galling.

Conspicuous in her mother's salon, queen of conversationalists,
reciting verses in honour of the independence of Greece, exciting
peals of laughter by her wit and her power to draw out that of others,
was a brilliant figure--that of the beautiful Delphine Gay, who was,
in 1831, to become Madame de Girardin. She is a charming figure, a
woman with unfailing tact and a singular lack of literary jealousy, so
that all her contemporaries speak of her with affection. She made
strenuous efforts to keep the peace between Balzac and her husband,
the autocratic editor of _La Presse_; and till 1847, when the final
rupture took place, Balzac's real liking for her conquered his
resentment at what he considered unjustifiable proceedings on the part
of her husband. Once indeed there was a complete cessation of friendly
relations, and even dark hints about a duel; but usually Madame de
Girardin prevailed; and though there were many recriminations on both
sides, and several times nearly an explosion, Balzac wrote for _La
Presse_, visited her salon, and was generally on terms of politeness
with her husband. She was proud of her beautiful complexion, and had a
drawing-room hung with pale green satin to show it to the best
advantage; while, like her mother, she wrote novels, one of which she
called "La Canne de M. de Balzac," after the novelist's famous cane
adorned with turquoises.

One of the habituees of Madame Gay's salon was the Duchesse
d'Abrantes; and between her and Balzac there existed a literary
comradeship, possibly cemented by the impecun