Women in the Life of Balzac Part 18

Your last letter counseled me not to write again to Dresden.

However, I take up my pen on the invitation contained in your letter of the 8th. Since you, as well as your child, are absolutely determined to see your Lirette again, there is but one way for it, viz., to come to Paris."

He planned how she could secure a pa.s.sport for Frankfort and the Rhine and meet him at Mayence, where he would have a pa.s.sport for his sister and his niece so that they could come to Paris to remain from March 15 until May 15. Once in Paris, in a small suite of rooms furnished by him, they could visit Lirette at the convent, take drives, frequent the theatres, shop at a great advantage, and keep everything in the greatest secrecy. He continues:

"Dear Countess, the uncertainty of your arrival at Frankfort has weighed heavily on me, for how can I begin to work, whilst awaiting a letter, which may cause me to set out immediately? I have not written a line of the _Paysans_. From a material point of view, all this has been fatal to me. Not even your penetrating intelligence can comprehend this, as you know nothing of Parisian economy nor the difficulties in the life of a man who is trying to live on six thousand francs a year."

Thus was his time wasted; and when he dared express gently and lovingly the feelings which were overpowering him, his beautiful _Chatelaine_ was offended, and rebuked him for his impatience.

Desperate and almost frantic, he writes her:

"Dresden and you dizzy me; I do not know what is to be done. There is nothing more fatal than the indecision in which you have kept me for three months. If I had departed the first of January to return February 28, I should be more advanced (in work) and I would have had two good months at St. Petersburg. Dear sovereign star, how do you expect me to be able to conceive two ideas, to write two sentences, with my heart and head agitated as they have been since last November; it is enough to drive a man mad! I have drenched myself with coffee to no avail, I have only increased the nervous trouble of my eyes; . . . I am between two despairs, that of not seeing you, of not having seen you, and the financial and literary chagrin, the chagrin of self-respect. Oh! Charles II was right in saying: 'But She? . . .' in all matters which his ministers submitted to him."

On receipt of a letter from her April 18, 1845, saying, "I desire much to see you," he rushed off at once to Dresden, forgetful of all else.

In July, Madame Hanska and her daughter accompanied him home, traveling incognito as Balzac's sister and his niece, just as he had planned. Anna is said to have taken the name of Eugenie, perhaps in remembrance of Balzac's heroine, Eugenie Grandet. After stopping at various places on the way, they spent a few weeks at Paris. Balzac had prepared a little house in Pa.s.sy near him for his friends, and he took much pleasure in showing them his treasures and Paris. Their ident.i.ty was not discovered, and in August he accompanied them as far as Brussels on their return to Dresden. There they met Count George Mniszech, the fiance of Anna, who had been with them most of the time.

Balzac could scarcely control his grief at parting, but he was not separated from his _Predilecta_ long. The following month he spent several days with her at Baden-Baden, saying of his visit:

"Baden has been for me a bouquet of sweet flowers without a thorn.

We lived there so peacefully, so delightfully, and so completely heart to heart. I have never been so happy before in my life. I seemed to catch a glimpse of that future which I desire and dream of in the midst of my overwhelming labors. . . ."

The happiness of Madame Hanska did not seem to be so great, for, ever uncertain, she consulted a fortune-teller about him. To this he replies: "Tell your fortune-teller that her cards have lied, and that I am not preoccupied with any blonde, except Dame Fortune." As to whether she was justified in being suspicious, one can judge from the preceding pages. Balzac always denied or explained to her these accusations; however true were some of his vindications of himself, he certainly exaggerated in a.s.suring her that he always told her the exact truth and never hid from her the smallest trifle whether good or bad.

In October, 1845, the novelist left Paris again, met his "Polar Star,"

her daughter and M. de Mniszech at Chalons, and accompanied them on their Italian tour by way of Ma.r.s.eilles as far as Naples. On his return to Ma.r.s.eilles on November 12, he invested in wonderful bargains in bric-a-brac, a favorite pursuit which eventually cost him a great deal in worry and time as well as much money. Madame Hanska had supplied his purse from time to time.

Although he was being pressed by debts and for unfinished work, having wasted almost the entire year and having had much extra expense in traveling, Balzac could not rise to the situation, and implored his _Chatelaine_ to resign herself to keeping him near her, for he had done nothing since he left Dresden. In this frame of mind, he writes:

"Nothing amuses me, nothing distracts me, nothing enlivens me; it is the death of the soul, the death of the will, the collapse of the entire being; I feel that I cannot take up my work until I see my life decided, fixed, settled. . . . I am quite exhausted; I have waited too long, I have hoped too much, I have been too happy this year; and I no longer wish anything else. After so many years of toil and misfortune, to have been free as a bird of the air, a thoughtless traveler, super-humanly happy, and then to come back to a dungeon! . . . is that possible? . . . I dream, I dream by day, by night; and my heart's thought, folding upon itself, prevents all action of the thought of the brain--it is fearful!"

Balzac was ever seeing objects worthy to be placed in his art collection, going quietly through Paris on foot, and having his friend Mery continue to secure bargains at Ma.r.s.eilles. A most important event at this period is the noticeable decline in the novelist's health.

Though these attacks of neuralgia and numerous colds were regarded as rather casual, had he not been so imbued with optimism--an inheritance from his father--he might have foreseen the days of terrible suffering and disappointment that were to come to him in Russia. Nature was beginning to revolt; the excessive use of coffee, the strain of long hours of work with little sleep, the abnormal life in general which he had led for so many years, and this suspense about the ultimate decision of the woman he so adored, were weakening him physically.

In January, 1846, Madame Hanska was in Dresden again, and as was always the case when in that city, she wrote accusing him. This time the charge was that of indulging in ign.o.ble gossip, and the reproach was so unjust that, without finishing the reading of the letter, he exposed himself for hours in the streets of Paris to snow, to cold and to fatigue, utterly crushed by this accusation of which he was so innocent. In his delicate physical condition, such shocks were conducive to cardiac trouble, especially since his heart had long been affected. After perusing the letter to the end, he reflected that these grievous words came not from her, but from strangers, so he poured forth his burning adoration, his longing for a _home_, where he could drink long draughts of a life in common, the life of two.

In the following March the pa.s.sionate lover was drawn by his _Predilecta_ to the Eternal City, and a few months later they were in Strasbourg, where a definite engagement took place. In October he joined her again, this time at Wiesbaden, to attend the marriage of Anna to the Comte George de Mniszech. This brief visit had a delightful effect: "From Frankfort to Forbach, I existed only in remembrance of you, going over my four days like a cat who has finished her milk and then sits licking her lips."

Madame Hanska had constantly refused to be separated from her daughter, but now Balzac hoped that he could hasten matters, so he applied to his boyhood friend, M. Germeau, prefect of Metz, to see if he, in his official capacity, could not waive the formality of the law and accelerate his marriage; but since all Frenchmen are equal before the _etat-civil_, this could not be accomplished.

It was during their extensive travels in 1846 that Balzac began calling the party "Bilboquet's troup of mountebanks": Madame Hanska became Atala; Anna, Zephirine; George, Gringalet; and Balzac, Bilboquet. Although Madame Hanska cautioned him about his extravagance in gathering works of art, he persisted in buying them while traveling, so it became necessary to find a home in which to place his collection. It is an interesting fact that while making this collection, he was writing _Le Cousin Pons_, in which the hero has a pa.s.sion for acc.u.mulating rare paintings and curios with which he fills his museum and impoverishes himself. Balzac had purposed calling this book _Le Parasite_, but Madame Hanska objected to this name, which smacked so strongly of the eighteenth century, and he changed it. As he was also writing _La Cousine Bette_ at this time, we can see not only that his power of application had returned to him, but that he was producing some of his strongest work.

For some time Balzac had been looking for a home worthy of his _fiancee_ and had finally decided on the Villa Beaujon, in the rue Fortunee. Since this home was created "for her and by her," it was necessary for her to be consulted in the reconstruction and decoration of it, so he brought her secretly to Paris, and her daughter and son-in-law returned to Wierzchownia. This was not only a long separation for so devoted a mother and daughter, but there was some danger lest her incognito be discovered; Balzac, accordingly, took every precaution. It is easy to picture the extreme happiness of the novelist in conducting his _Louloup_ over Paris, in having her near him while he was writing some of his greatest masterpieces, and, naturally, hoping that the everlasting debts would soon be defrayed and the marriage ceremony performed, but fortunately, he was not permitted to know beforehand of the long wait and the many obstacles that stood in his way.

Just what happened during the spring and summer of 1847 is uncertain, as few letters of this period exist in print. Miss Sandars (_Balzac_), states that about the middle of April Balzac conducted Madame Hanska to Forbach on her return to Wierzchownia, and when he returned to Paris he found that some of her letters to him had been stolen, 30,000 francs being demanded for them at once, otherwise the letters to be turned over to the Czar. Miss Sandars states also that this trouble hastened the progress of his heart disease, and that when the letters were eventually secured (without the payment) Balzac burned them, lest such a catastrophe should occur again. The Princess Radziwill says that the story of the letters was invented by Balzac and is ridiculous; also, that it angered her aunt because Balzac revealed his ignorance of Russian matters, by saying such things. Lawton (_Balzac_) intimates that Balzac and Madame Hanska quarreled, she being jealous and suspicious of his fidelity, and that he burned her letters. De Lovenjoul (_Un Roman d'Amour_) makes the same statement and adds that this trouble increased his heart disease. But he says also (_La Genese d'un Roman de Balzac_) that Madame Hanska spent two months secretly in Paris in April and May; yet, a letter written by Balzac, dated February 27, 1847, shows that she was in Paris at that time.

Balzac went to Wierzchownia in September, 1847, and traveled so expeditiously that he arrived there several days before his letter which told of his departure. When one remembers how he had planned with M. de Hanski more than ten years before to be his guest in this chateau, one can imagine his great delight now in journeying thither with the hope of accomplishing the great desire of his life. He was royally entertained at the chateau and was given a beautiful little suite of rooms composed of a salon, a sitting-room, and a bed-room.[*]

[*] This house, where all the mementos of Balzac, including his portrait, were preserved intact by the family, has been utterly destroyed by the Bolsheviks.

Regarding the vital question of his marriage, he writes his sister:

"My greatest wish and hope is still far from its accomplishment.

Madame Hanska is indispensable to her children; she is their guide; she disentangles for them the intricacies of the vast and difficult administration of this property. She has given up everything to her daughter. I have known of her intentions ever since I was at St. Petersburg. I am delighted, because the happiness of my life will thus be freed from all self-interest. It makes me all the more earnest to guard what is confided to me.

. . . It was necessary for me to come here to make me understand the difficulties of all kinds which stand in the way of the fulfilment of my desires."[*]

[*] The above shows that Balzac's ardent pa.s.sion for his _Predilecta_ was for herself alone, and that he was not actuated by his greed for gold, as has been stated by various writers.

During this visit, Balzac complained of the cold of Russia in January, but his friends were careful to provide him with suitable wraps.

Business matters compelled him to return to Paris in February. In leaving this happy home, he must have felt the contrast in arriving in Paris during the Revolution, and having to be annoyed again with his old debts. This time, he went to his new home in the rue Fortunee, the home that had cost the couple so much money and was to cause him so much worry if not regret.

About the last of September, 1848, Balzac left Paris again for Russia, and his family did not hear from him for more than a month after his arrival. His mother was left with two servants to care for his home in the rue Fortunee, as he expected to return within a few months. It is worthy of note that in this first letter to her, he spoke of being in very good health, for immediately afterwards, he was seized with acute bronchitis, and was ill much of the time during his prolonged stay of eighteen months.

Madame Hanska planned to have him pay the debts on their future home as soon as the harvest was gathered, but concerning the most important question he writes:

"The Countess will make up her mind to nothing until her children are entirely free from anxieties regarding their fortune.

Moreover, your brother's debts, whether his own, or those he has in common with the family, trouble her enormously. Nevertheless, I hope to return toward the end of August; but in no circ.u.mstance will I ever again separate myself from the person I love. Like the Spartan, I intend to return with my shield or upon it."

Things were very discouraging at Wierzchownia; Madame Hanska had failed to receive much money which she was to inherit from an uncle, and, in less than six weeks, four fires had consumed several farm houses and a large quant.i.ty of grain on the estate. Although they both were anxious to see the rue Fortunee, their departure was uncertain.

But the most distressing complication was the condition of Balzac's health, which was growing worse. He complained of the frightful Asiatic climate, with its excessive heat and cold; he had a perpetual headache, and his heart trouble had increased until he could not mount the stairs. But he had implicit faith in his physician, and with his usual hopefulness felt that he would soon be cured, congratulating himself on having two such excellent physicians as Dr. Knothe and his son. His surroundings were ideal, and each of the household had for him an attachment tender, filial and sincere. It was necessary to his welfare that his life should be without vexation, and he asked his sister to entreat their mother to avoid anything which might cause him pain.

On his part, he tried to spare his mother also from unpleasant news, and desired his sister to a.s.sist him in concealing from her the real facts. He had had another terrible crisis in which he had been ill for more than a month with cephalalgic fever, and he had grown very thin.

Though several of Balzac's biographers have criticized Madame Hanska most bitterly for holding Balzac in Russia, and some have even gone so far as to censure her for his early death, it will be remembered that his health had long begun to fail, and that no const.i.tution could long endure the severe strain he had given his. No climate could help his worn-out body to a sufficient degree. Balzac himself praised the conduct of the entire Hanski family. The following is only one of his numerous testimonies to their devotion.

"Alas! I have no good news to send. In all that regards the affection, the tenderness of all, the desire to root out the evil weeds which enc.u.mber the path of my life, mother and children are sublime; but the chief thing of all is still subject to entanglements and delays, which make me doubt whether it is G.o.d's will that your brother should ever be happy, at least in that way; but as regards sincere mutual love, delicacy and goodness, it would be impossible to find another family like this. We live together as if there were only one heart amongst the four; this is repet.i.tion, but it cannot be helped, it is the only definition of the life I lead here."

The situation of the author of the _Comedie humaine_ was at this time most pitiable. Broken in health and living in a climate to which his const.i.tution refused to be acclimated,[*] weighed down by a load of debt which he was unable to liquidate in his state of health (his work having amounted to very little during his stay in Russia), consumed with a burning pa.s.sion for the woman who had become the overpowering figure in the latter half of his literary career, possessing a pride that was making him sacrifice his very life rather than give up his long-sought treasure, the diamond of Poland, his very soul became so imbued with this devouring pa.s.sion that the pour _moujik_ was scarcely master of himself.

[*] Concerning the climate of Kieff, the Princess Radziwill says: "The story that the climate of Kieff was harmful to Balzac is also a legend. In that part of Russia, the climate is almost as mild as is the Isle of Wight, and Balzac, when he was staying with Madame Hanska, was nursed as he would never have been anywhere else, because not only did she love him with her whole heart, but her daughter and the latter's husband were also devoted to him."

His family were suffering various misfortunes, and these, together with his deplorable condition, caused Madame Hanska to contemplate giving up an alliance with a man whose family was so unfortunate and whose social standing was so far beneath hers. She preferred to remain in Russia where she was rich, and moved in a high aristocratic circle, rather than to give up her property and a.s.sume the life of anxiety and trials which awaited her as Madame Honore de Balzac.

At times he became most despondent; the long waiting was affecting him seriously, and he hesitated urging a life so shattered as was his upon the friend who, like a benignant star, had shone upon his path during the past sixteen years.

"If I lose all I have hoped to gain here, I should no longer live; a garret in the rue Lesdiguieres and a hundred francs a month would suffice for all I want. My heart, my soul, my ambition, all that is within me, desires nothing, except the one object I have had in view for sixteen years. If this immense happiness escapes me, I shall need nothing. I will have nothing. I care nothing for la rue Fortunee for its own sake; la rue Fortunee has only been created _for her_ and _by her_."

The novelist was cautious in his letters lest there should be gossip about his secret engagement, and his possible approaching marriage.

Apropos of his marriage, he would say that it was postponed for reasons which he could not give his family; Madame Hanska had met with financial losses again through fires and crop failures. With his continued illness, he had many things to trouble him.

But with all his trials, Balzac remained in many ways a child. After the terrible Moldavian fever which had endangered his life, in the fall of 1849 he took great pleasure in a dressing-gown of _termolana_ cloth. He had wanted one of these gowns since he first saw this cloth at Geneva in 1834. Again he was ill, for twenty days, and his only amus.e.m.e.nt was in seeing Anna depart for dances in costumes of royal magnificence. The Russian toilettes were wonderful, and while the women ruined their husbands with their extravagance, the men ruined the toilettes of the ladies by their roughness. In a mazurka where the men contended for ladies' handkerchiefs, the young Countess had one worth about five hundred francs torn in pieces, but her mother repaired the loss by giving her another twice as costly.

The year 1850, which was to prove so fatal to Balzac, opened with a bad omen, had he realized it. His health, which he had never considered as he should have done, was seriously affected, and early in January another illness followed which kept him in bed for several days. He thought that he had finally become acclimated, but after another attack a few weeks later he concluded that the climate was impossible for nervous temperaments.

Such was, in brief, the story of his stay in Russia, but his optimism and devotion continued, and he writes:

"It is sanguine to think I could set off on March 15, and in that case I should arrive early in April. But if my long cherished hopes are realized, there would be a delay of some days, as I should have to go to Kieff, to have my pa.s.sport regulated. These hopes have become possibilities; these four or five successive illnesses--the sufferings of a period of acclimatization--which my affection has enabled me to take joyfully, have touched this sweet soul more than the few little debts which remain unpaid have frightened her as a prudent woman, and I foresee that all will go well. In the face of this happy probability, the journey to Kieff is not to be regretted, for the Countess has nursed me heroically without once leaving the house, so you ought not to afflict yourself for the little delay which will thus be caused. Even in that case, my, or our, arrival would be in the first fortnight of April."

Until the very last, Balzac was very careful that his family should not announce his expected wedding. Finally, all obstacles overcome, the long desired marriage occurred March 14, 1850.[*]

[*] Though Balzac speaks of having to obtain the Czar's permission to marry, the Princess Radziwill states that no permission was required, asked or granted. Balzac always gave March 14, 1850, as the date of his marriage while de Lovenjoul and M. Stanislas Rzewuski give the date as April 15, 1850. The Princess Radziwill writes: "Concerning the date of Balzac's marriage, it was solemnized as he wrote it to his family on March 2_14_1850, at Berditcheff in Poland. Balzac, however, was a French subject, and as such had to be married according to the French civil law, by a French consul. There did not exist one in Berditcheff, so they had perforce to repair to Kieff for this ceremony. The latter took place on April 3_15 of the same year, and this explains the discrepancy of dates you mention which refer to two different ceremonies."