was a time of struggle, of passionate endeavour, possibly of
bewilderment; with the one great determination standing firm in the
midst of a chaos of doubt and difficulty--the determination to
persevere, and to become a writer at any cost.

He therefore, to his father's consternation, announced his objection
to following a legal career, and begged to be allowed an opportunity
of proving his literary powers. Thereupon there were lively
discussions in the family; but at last the kindly M. de Balzac,
apparently against his wife's wishes, yielded to his son's earnest
entreaties, and allowed him two years in which to try his fortune as a
writer. The friends of the family were loud in their exclamations of
disapproval at the folly of this proceeding, which would, they said,
waste two of the best years of Honore's life. As far as they could
see, he possessed no genius; and even if he _were_ to succeed in a
literary career, he would certainly not gain a fortune, which after
all was the principal thing to be considered. However, either the
strenuousness and force of Honor's arguments, or the softness of his
father's heart, prevailed in his favour; and in spite of the
opposition of the whole of his little world, he was allowed to have
his own way, and to make trial of his powers. The rest of the family
retired to Villeparisis, about sixteen miles from Paris, and he was
established in a small attic at No. 9, Rue Lesdiguieres, which was
chosen by him for its nearness to the Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal, the
only public library of which the contents were unknown to him. At the
same time, appearances, always all-important in the Balzac family,
were observed, by the fiction that Honore was at Alby, on a visit to a
cousin; and in this way his literary venture was kept secret, in case
it proved unsuccessful.

Having arranged this, and asserted himself to the extent of insisting
that his son should be allowed a certain amount of freedom in choosing
his career, even if he fixed on a course which seemed suicidal, old M.
de Balzac appears to have retired from the direction of affairs, and
to have left his energetic wife to follow her own will about details.
There was no doubt in that lady's mind as to the methods to be
pursued. Her husband had been culpably weak, and had allowed himself
to be swayed by the freak of a boy who hated work and wanted an excuse
for idleness. Honore must be brought to reason, and be taught that
"the way of transgre