it to many friends, Madame Carraud being among
the number; but she, with her usual rather provoking common-sense,
refused to share his enthusiasm, and suggested that it might have been
written as a practical joke. To this insinuation Balzac gave no
credence; he naturally found it easy to believe in one more
enthusiastic foreign admirer, and he was seriously troubled by the
fact that the first dizain of the "Contes Drolatiques," which
certainly would not satisfy his correspondent's views on the lofty
mission of womanhood, was likely to appear shortly. However, whether
she did not read the first dizain of the "Contes," which appeared in
April, 1832, or whether the perusal of them showed her more strongly
than before that Balzac was really in need of good advice, Madame
Hanska did not show her displeasure by breaking off her correspondence
with him. Balzac had much to occupy his mind in 1832, as he was
conscientiously, though not successfully, trying to make himself
agreeable to the lady selected as his wife by his family. At the same
time, while with regret and trouble in his heart he tried to relegate
Madame de Berny to the position of an ordinary friend, and felt the
delightful agitation, followed by bitter mortification, of his
intercourse with Madame de Castries, we must remember that from time
to time he received a flowery epistle from Russia, written in the
turgid and rather bombastic style peculiar to Madame Hanska.

On the other hand, we can imagine the interest and excitement felt by
the Chatelaine of Wierzchownia as she wrote, and secretly dispatched
to the well-known author, the sentimental outpourings of her soul. The
composition of these letters must certainly have supplied a savour to
a rather flavourless life; for it was dull in that far-off chateau in
Ukraine, which, as Balzac described it afterwards, was as large as the
Louvre, and was surrounded by territories as extensive as a French
Department. There were actually a carcel lamp and a hospital--which
seem a curious conjunction--on the estate, and there were
looking-glasses ten feet high in the rooms, but no hangings on the
walls. Possibly Madame Hanska did not miss these, but what she did miss
was society. She, M. de Hanski,[*] Anna's governess, Mlle. Henriette
Borel, and last, but not least, the beloved Anna herself, the only
child, on whom Madame Hanska lavished the most passionate love, were a
small party in the chateau; and besides two Polish relat