sh of the book since the November before, and that
unless Balzac could produce it in June, the idea of its appearance in
_La Presse_ must be given up altogether; and in this case he must ask
the author to settle with M. Rouy about the advances of money already
made to him. He further remarked with scathing though excusable
distrust in Balzac's fulfilment of his business engagements, that he
refused to continue to bring out the work at all, unless he were
absolutely certain that it was completely written and that no further
interruption would ensue. Friendly social relations still subsisted,
however, between Balzac and the Girardins, as, about the same time
that Emile penned this uncompromising epistle, the following note
reached Balzac,[+] the last he ever received from the peace-making
Madame de Girardin:

"It is the evening of my last Wednesday. Come, cruel one. Mrs. Norton
will be here. Do you not wish me to have the glory of having presented
you to this English 'Corinne'? Emile tells me that 'La Derniere
Incarnation de Vautrin' is admirable. The compositors declare that it
is your _chef-d'oeuvre_.

"Only till this evening, I implore you.

"DELPHINE GAY DE GIRARDIN."

[*] "La Genese d'un Roman de Balzac," by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de
Lovenjoul, from which the whole account of Balzac's rupture with
Girardin is taken.

[+] "La Genese d'un Roman de Balzac," by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de
Lovenjoul, p. 262

Balzac on his side, was now most anxious to finish "Les Paysans,"
especially as his penniless state at this time would render it most
difficult for him to pay back the money advanced to him by _La
Presse_. He was in special difficulties, as he had lately borrowed ten
or fifteen thousand francs from the impecunious Viscontis, giving them
as guarantee some shares in the unfortunate Chemin de Fer du Nord, and
as the railway was a failure, and these shares were a burden instead
of a benefit, Balzac was bound in honour to relieve his friends of
their troublesome possession, and to pay back what he owed them. This
necessity was an additional incentive to action, and Balzac's letters
to Madame Hanska about this time, contain several indications of his
anxiety about "Les Paysans." On June 9th he speaks of his desire to
bring it to a close; and on the 15th he writes that he must certainly
finish it at once, to avoid the lawsuit with which he has been for so
long threatened by _La Presse_. Howe