that Balzac wrote in March 1839 a despairing letter to
Madame Carraud, containing the words: "To you, sister of my soul, I
can confide my greatest secrets; I am now in the midst of terrible
misery. All the walls of Les Jardies have fallen down through the
fault of the builder, who did not make any foundations."[*] No
builder, however, managed to effect the feat of making this
unfortunate wall stand upright; and in the end, to allow it to come
down in peace and comfort whenever it felt so disposed, Balzac bought
the strip of his neighbour's land which bordered it, and after that,
ceased to feel anguish at its vagaries.

[*] "Correspondance," vol. i. p. 453.

The wall was decidedly important, as Balzac's fortune was to be made
by the contents of the garden at Les Jardies, and it would not have
been satisfactory for strangers to be able to wander there at will.
Balzac's new plan for becoming rich was to cover most of his territory
with glass houses, and to plant 100,000 feet with pineapples. Owing to
the warmth of the soil, he considered that these pineapples would not
need much heat, and could be sold at five francs apiece, instead of
the louis charged for them in Paris. They would therefore be quickly
disposed of, and 500,000 francs would be made, which, deducting
100,000 francs for expenses, would mean a clear profit of 400,000
francs a year. "And this money will be made without a page of copy,"
said poor Balzac. He was, of course, absolutely confident about the
success of this new undertaking, and Theophile Gautier, who tells the
story,[*] says that a search was made for a shop in which to sell
these pineapples of the future. This shop was to be painted black with
lines of gold, and was to have on it in huge letters the announcement,
"Ananas des Jardies"; but Gautier managed to persuade Balzac in order
to avoid useless expense, not to hire it till the next year, when the
pineapples would have had time to grow. However, perhaps Balzac was
discouraged by the sight of the snow falling silently on his slope, or
possibly his desire to make a fabulous sum of money by a successful
play had for a time blotted out all other ambitions; at any rate, we
hear no more of the pineapples of Les Jardies.

[*] "Portraits Contemporains--Honore de Balzac," by Theophile Gautier.

Balzac's terribly embarrassed condition in 1837 caused him to return
with new ardour to the idea which haunted him all his life, that of an
immense theatrical