ure do in these
circumstances? Balzac asks. Would she not in disgust dismiss the
sculptor, and choose a more eligible _parti_ for Sophie?
"Unsatisfactory marriages," he remarks sagely, "are easily made; but
satisfactory ones require infinite precautions and scrupulous
attention, or one does not get married; and I am at present most
likely to remain a bachelor."[*]

[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 328.

He appeals to Madame Surville's self-interest. "Reflect on the fact,
my dear Laure, that not one of us can be said to have arrived at our
goal, and that if, instead of being obliged to work in order to live,
I were to become the husband of a most intellectual, well born and
highly connected woman, with a solid though small fortune--in spite of
this woman's desire to remain in her own country and to make no new
relations, even family ones--I should be in a much more favourable
position to be useful to you all. I know that Madame Hanska would show
kindness to and feel keen interest in your dear little ones."

Surely, he says, it will be an advantage to the whole family, when he
has a _salon_ presided over by a beautiful, clever woman, imposing as
a queen, where he can assemble the _elite_ of Parisian society. He
does not wish to be tyrannical or overbearing with his family, but he
informs them that it will be of no use to place themselves in
opposition to such a woman. He warns them that she and her children
will _never forgive_ those who blame him to them. Further on in his
lengthy epistle, he gives instructions in deportment, and tells his
relations that in their intercourse with Madame Hanska they must not
show servility, haughtiness, sensitiveness, or obsequiousness; but
must be natural, simple, and affectionate. It was no wonder that the
Balzac family disliked Madame Hanska! And the poor woman cannot be
considered responsible for the feeling evoked!

Towards the end of his letter, however, the reader forgives Balzac,
and realises that the cry of a desperate man, ill and suffering, yet
still clinging with determined strength to the hope which means
everything to him, must not be criticised minutely. "Once everything
is lost, I shall live no longer; I shall content myself with a garret
like that of the Rue Lesdiguieres, and shall only spend a hundred
francs a month. My heart, soul, and ambition will be satisfied with
nothing but the object I have pursued for sixteen years: if this
immense happiness escapes me, I s