work in
peace. After this, in terrible pecuniary difficulties, and feeling
acutely the loss of the woman who had been an angel to him in his
former troubles, he left the Rue Cassini and fled from Paris, to avoid
further detention by the civic authorities. He took refuge at
Chaillot, and under the name of Madame Veuve Durand hid at No. 13, Rue
des Batailles. Here he lodged for a time in a garret formerly occupied
by Jules Sandeau, from the window of which there was a magnificent
view of Paris, from the Ecole Militaire to the barrier of the Trone,
and from the Pantheon to L'Etoile. From time to time Balzac would
pause in his work to gaze on the ocean of houses below; but he never
went out, for he was pursued by his creditors.

It is curiously characteristic of his love of luxury that, destitute
as he was, he had no intention of occupying this modest garret for
long, but that a drawing-room on the second floor, which would cost
700 francs, was already in preparation for his use. It was to No. 13,
Rue des Batailles, that Emile de Girardin, who had just started _La
Presse_, wrote asking him to contribute to its pages; and, in
consequence, Balzac produced "La Vieille Fille," which began to appear
on October 23rd, and shocked the subscribers very much. Here, too, at
a most inopportune moment, Madame Hanska addressed to him a depressed
and mournful letter, of which he complains bitterly. She was at this
time extremely jealous of Madame Visconti, from whom she suspected
that Madame de Mortsauf, in the "Lys dans la Vallee," had been drawn;
and Balzac says he supposes that he must give up the Italian opera,
the only pleasure he has, because a charming and graceful woman
occupies the same box with him. In October he paid a sad little visit
to La Boulonniere, which must have brought before him keenly the loss
he had sustained; and after he spent a few days at Sache, where he was
ill for a day or two as a result of mental worry and overwork.

Another blow was to fall on Balzac before the disastrous year 1836
came to a close. The "Lys dans la Vallee," on which Werdet had pinned
all his hopes, had sold very badly, possibly owing to the hostility of
the newspapers. As a climax to all Balzac's miseries, in October
Werdet failed. This was doubly serious, as Balzac had signed several
bills of exchange for his publisher, and was therefore liable for a
sum of 13,000 francs. Werdet wrote a book abusing Balzac as the cause
of his failure; an