After the publication of the Physiology1 and The Magic Skin, which followed The Chouans and Scenes from Private Life, Balzac found himself enrolled2 among the fashionable novelists. The public did not understand his ideas, they were incapable3 of grasping the grandeur4 of the vast edifice5 which he already dreamed of raising to his own glory, but they enjoyed his penetrating6 analysis of the human heart, his understanding of women, and his picturesque7, alluring8 and dramatic power of narrative9. He excited the curiosity of his women readers, who recognised themselves in his heroines as in so many faithful mirrors; and the consequence was that he was besieged10 by a host of feminine letters. Balzac had a perfumed casket in which he put away the confidences, avowals and advances of his fair admirers, but he did not reply to them.
In September, 1831, however, an unsigned letter arrived at the chateau11 at Sache, where he had been spending his vacation; but, as he had already left, it was forwarded to him in Paris. It was distinguished12 by its refinement13 of tone, its cleverness and its frank and discerning criticisms of the Physiology and The Magic Skin — so much so, indeed, that Balzac decided14 to answer its attacks upon him by defending his works and explaining his ideas. There followed a second letter and then others, and before long a correspondence had been established between Balzac and the unknown lady, so fascinating on her side of it that Balzac was eager to know her name, and demanded it, under penalty of breaking off the whole correspondence. She willingly revealed her identity, she was the Duchesse de Castries. She informed him further that it would give her pleasure to have him call upon her, in the Rue15 de Varennes, on the day when she received her intimate friends. Balzac, no doubt, gave utterance16 to his great, joyous17, triumphant18 laugh, in which there was also mingled19 a touch of pride.
Mme. de Castries was one of the most highly courted ladies in the exclusive circle of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, an aristocrat20 of aristocrats21; she was still young — her age was thirty-five — and beautiful, with pale and delicate features, crowned with masses of hair of a dazzling Venetian blonde. She was a descendant of the de Maille family, her husband had been a peer of France under Charles X, and through marriage with the Duc de Fitz-James, one of the leaders of the legitimist party, was her brother-in-law, thus connecting her with the highest nobility of France. To Balzac she represented the doorway22 to a world of which he had had only vague glimpses as reflected in the reminiscences of Mme. de Berny — and she smiled upon him with a mysterious smile of welcome.
The novelist hastened to accept the Duchess’s invitation, and became one of the regular frequenters of her salon23. She led him on; and he talked of his ideas, his projects and his dreams. He also talked discreetly24 of his heart, and without encouraging him, she allowed him to understand that she listened to him without displeasure. His relations with Mme. de Berny had been tinged25 with a sort of bitterness, due to the disparity in their ages, and his happiness had never been complete. These relations were now about to come to a close, yet even after the rupture26 they were destined27 to remain like a single soul, united by a profound and lasting28 affection, beyond the reach of any severance29. Be that as it may, Balzac at this period was audaciously planning another conquest, and a dazzling one, more brilliant than his most ambitious hopes could have wished. So the pretty game continued, half in sport and half in earnest.
Whether it was due solely30 to the influence of the duchess or whether a certain amount of calculation entered in, since literary success is judged by the money profits and the expenditures31 and fashionable appearance of the writer, or whether he also obeyed his own fondness for a broad and sumptuous33 scale of living, no one knows; probably something of all three entered in; but the fact remains34 that after he knew Mme. de Castries Balzac became transformed into a dandy, a man of fashion. He was a lion in that circle of gilded35 youth which frequented the Opera and the Bouffes, that shone in famous salons36, that diverted itself in cabarets, and distinguished itself by wealth, gallantry and impertinence.
Balzac now had money. He possessed37 an unusual faculty38 for disposing of his copy advantageously. To begin with, he was paid by the magazines to which he gave the first serial39 rights, the Revue de Paris and the Revue des Deux Mondes; and, secondly40, in disposing of the book rights he never gave his publishers more than the right to bring out one edition and for a limited time; and the result was that frequent new editions, either of single works or groups of works, taken together with his new works, formed altogether a considerable production of volumes. Furthermore, he received advances from publishers and editors, he trafficked in endorsed41 notes, he borrowed and lived on credit. This was in a measure the prosperity that he had so greatly coveted42, yet he gained it at the cost of countless43 toil44, activity and worriment.
Balzac now acquired carriages and horses, he had a cabriolet and a tilbury painted maroon45; his coachman was enormous and was named Leclercq, while the groom46 was a dwarf47 whom he called Anchises. He engaged servants, a cook and a valet named Paradis. He patronised the most fashionable tailor of the time, and dressed in accordance with the decrees of the latest style. Mme. Ancelot states that he ordered no less than thirty-one waistcoats, and that he had not given up the hope of some day having three hundred and sixty-five, one for each day in the year. He abandoned wool in favour of silk. Rings adorned48 his fingers; his linen49 was of the finest quality; and he used perfumes, of which he was passionately50 fond.
In the morning he went to the Bois, where the other young men of fashion congregated51; he sauntered up and down and later paid visits; in the evening, when he had no invitations to social functions, he dined at the Rocher de Cancale or at Bignon’s, or showed himself at the Opera in the box occupied by an ultra-fashionable set known as the “Tigers.” After the performance he hurried off to cut a brilliant figure at the salon of the beautiful Delphine Gay, the wife of Emile de Girardin, in company with Lautour-Mezeray, the “man with the camelia,” Alphonse Karr, Eugene Sue, Dumas, and sometimes Victor Hugo and Lamartine. In that celebrated52 apartment, hung in sea-green damask, which formed such a perfect background for Delphine’s blonde beauty, Balzac would arrive exuberant53, resplendent with health and happiness, and there he would remain for hours, overflowing54 with wit and brilliance55.
In the midst of this worldly life he by no means neglected Mme. de Castries, but, on the contrary, was assiduous in his attentions to the fair duchess. At her home he met the Duc de Fitz-James and the other leaders of militant56 legitimism, and little by little he gravitated towards their party. He wrote The Life of a Woman for Le Renovateur, and also an essay in two parts on The Situation of the Royalist Party; but it was not long before he quarrelled with Laurentie, the editor in chief who probably wounded his pride as a man of letters.
The society which he frequented must have reacted on Balzac, for it was at this time that he conceived the desire of proving himself a gentleman by descent, the issue of a time-honoured stock, the d’Antragues family. He adopted their coat-of-arms and had his monogram57 surmounted58 by a coronet. Later on he abandoned these pretensions59, and his forceful and proud reply is well known when some one had proved to him that he had no connection with any branch of that house:
“Very well, so much the worse for them!”
But meanwhile, how about his work? It is not known by what prodigy60 Balzac kept at his task, in spite of this busy life of fashion and frivolity61. He published The Purse, Mme. Firmiani, A Study of a Woman, The Message, La Grenadiere, The Forsaken62 Woman, Colonel Chabert (which appeared in L’Artiste under the title of Transaction), The Vicar of Tours, and he composed that mystical work which cost him so much pains that he almost succumbed63 to it, the Biographical Notice of Louis Lambert. At the same time he corrected, improved and partly rewrote The Chouans and the newly published Magic Skin, with a view to new editions, in accordance with the criticisms of his sister Laure and Mme. de Berny.
Nevertheless, money continued to evaporate under his prodigal64 fingers; he had counted upon revenues which failed to materialise, he could no longer borrow, for his credit was exhausted65, and he found himself reduced to a keener poverty than that of his mansarde garret. After all this accumulation of work, all this expenditure32 of genius, to think that he did not yet have an assured living! He had frightful66 attacks of depression, but they had no sooner passed than his will power was as strong as ever, his fever for work redoubled, and his visionary gaze discerned the fair horizons of hope as vividly67 as though they were already within reach of his hand. Then he would shut himself into his room, breaking off all ties with the social world, or else would flee into the provinces, far from the dizzy whirl of Paris.
Thus it happened that he made several sojourns68 at Sache in 1831, and that he set out for it once again in 1832, determined69 upon a lengthy70 absence. Mme. de Castries had left Paris and had asked him to join her at the waters of Aix in September; but, before he could permit himself to take this trip, he must needs have the sort of asylum71 for work that awaited him in Touraine.
M. de Margonne, his host, welcomed him like a son each time that he arrived. He had entire liberty to live at the chateau precisely72 as he chose. He was not required to be present at meals, nor to conform to any of the social conventions which might have interfered73 with the most profitable employment of his time. If, in the absorption of working out the scheme of the task which he had in progress, he was sometimes irritable74 and sullen75, no one took offence at his attitude. When he had not yet reached the stage of the actual writing, and was merely composing his drama within his powerful imagination, he arose early in the morning and set off upon long walks across country, sometimes solitary76 and silent, sometimes getting into conversation with the people he met and asking them all sorts of questions. He had no other source of amusement, for he did not care for hunting, and, as to fishing, he made no success of it, for he forgot to pull in the fish after they had taken the hook!
“The only games that interested him were those that demanded brain-work,” writes a relative to M. de Margonne, M. Salmon77 de Maison-Rouge, in a vivid account of Balzac’s visits to Sache. “My father, who prided himself upon playing a very good game of checkers, on one occasion tried a game with him. After several moves my father said, “Why, Monsieur de Balzac, we are not playing Give-away! You are letting me take all your men; you are not playing the game seriously.” “Indeed, I am,” rejoined Balzac, “as seriously as possible,” and he continued to let his men be taken. At last he had only one man left, but he had so managed the moves that, without my father being aware of it, this last man was in a position to take all the men my father had left in one single swoop78 — and there were a good many, for M. de Balzac had taken only six up to that move. From that time onward79 my father regarded him as one of the keenest minds that had ever lived.” (Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of Touraine, Volume XII.)
But Balzac was not staying at Sache for the purpose of playing checkers, and in the same notice M. Salmon tells of his habits of work, on the strength of an account given by M. de Margonne:
“He had a big alarm-clock,” he writes, “for he slept very well and very soundly, and he set the alarm for two o’clock in the morning. Then he prepared himself some coffee over a spirit lamp, together with several slices of toasted bread; and then started in to write in bed, making use of a desk so constructed that he could freely draw up his knees beneath it. He continued to write in this manner until five o’clock in the evening, taking no other nourishment80 than his coffee and his slices of toasted bread.
“At five o’clock he arose, dressed for dinner, and remained with his hosts in the drawing-room until ten o’clock, the hour at which he withdrew to go to bed. And he never in the least modified this settled routine.”
These sojourns at Sache were longer or shorter according to the stage of his work and the state of his purse. The servants at the chateau had learned to tell from his expression whether he was prosperous or hard-up; when he felt poor he met them with an affable air and kindly81 words, for that was all he had to give them; when he was rich he moved among them with the air of a prince. They pardoned his haughty82 manner because he was generous. M. de Margonne often aided him with loans, but in order to keep him as long as possible, he never gave him the money until the moment of his departure.
On leaving Paris for he knew not how long, Honore de Balzac entrusted83 his interests to his mother. They were of such opposite temperaments84, the one imaginative and extravagant85, staking his whole life and fortune on fabulous86 figures, and the other precise, calculating and rather austere87, that they could hardly be expected to understand each other, and frequent clashes had blunted all their tenderer impulses. Mme. de Balzac could not understand her son’s blunders, and blamed him severely88 for them. She suffered from his apparently89 dissipated life, his love of luxury, his belief in his own greatness, of which no evidence had yet been offered to her matter-of-fact mind. Still wholly unaware90 of his genius, she could not fail to misjudge him. Yet she had already sacrificed herself once to save him from bankruptcy91; and, with all her frowning and grumbling92, she would never refuse her aid and experience when he asked for it.
It was Mme. de Balzac who undertook to see the publishers and magazine editors, to pass upon the contracts, to follow up the negotiations93 already under way, and to conclude them; in short, she represented her son in all respects in his badly involved business relations. From a distance he supervised operations, with a mathematical keenness of vision, and his mother assumed the responsibility of carrying out his wishes, bringing to the contest all her qualities of vigour94, clear perception and crafty95 dealings. Honore de Balzac did not spare her. For he estimated her endurance by his own; and no sooner was he installed at Sache than he began to give her instructions that were little short of orders. She must copy The Grocer, which the Silhouette97 had published, send him a copy of Contes Bruns, obtain from Mme. de Berny a volume of The Chouans with her corrections, read the article on Bernard Palissy in the great Biographie Universelle, copy it, and make note of all the works that Palissy had written or which had been written about him, then hurry with those notes to M. de Mame, the book-seller — whom she was to present with copies of volumes 3 and 4 of Scenes of Private Life, telling him that Honore had had a fall and could not leave the house — and ask him to procure98 the works on her list — then go to Laure, and read the notice on Bernard Palissy in “Papa’s Biography,” to see whether any other works are mentioned which were not included in the Biographie Universelle, and to buy elsewhere whatever M. de Mame did not have, if they were not too dear, and send them all as soon as possible. These works were all needed by Balzac as documents for the Search for the Absolute, which was meant to conclude the fourth volume of Philosophic99 Tales, published by Gosselin — but probably they did not reach him in time, for the Search for the Absolute did not appear until 1834, and its place in the Tales was taken by the Biographic Notice of Louis Lambert.
To these express recommendations regarding his work Balzac added orders relative to his household. He “desired” that Leclercq should take out the horses half an hour each day; he concerned himself in regard to his outstanding debts, and he begged his mother to find out what he owed for June and July, so that he could get her the money.
Those few months of fashionable life and his frequenting aristocratic clubs had put his affairs in a piteous state. Mme. de Balzac drew up a balance sheet, without any attempt to spare him, and pointed100 out just what sacrifices were necessary. He was in no position to meet the heavy demands, in spite of his desperate toil. A gleam of hope, however, came in the midst of his distress101, for his friends at Sache held out prospects102 of a wealthy marriage; but this hope was an elusive103 one: the prospective104 bride was not expected in Touraine until the month of October, and how in the meantime was he to pay his pressing debts? He calculated the utmost that he could earn, he assumed certain advances, he added up and with the help of his optimism he swelled105 his prospective receipts, yet not sufficiently106 to satisfy his creditors107. He groaned108, for he did not wish to sell at a loss what he had acquired with such difficulty, despoil109 himself, strip himself bare like a St. John; — then his energy reawoke and his self-confidence enabled him to accept the hard test. He consented to give up his horses — for whose feed he was still owing, since he could not feed them on poetry, as he humorously wrote to Mme. de Girardin — and his cabriolet. What matter? He was strong enough to rebuild the foundations of his fortune!
From now on Honore de Balzac thought of nothing but his work. He wrote his Biographical Notice of Louis Lambert in thirty days and fifteen nights; but this effort was so prodigious110 that an apoplectic111 stroke prostrated112 him and he came very near dying. He endured his financial anxieties and empty purse, upheld by the certainty of his own genius. He knew how much unfinished work there was in the first version of his books and he had spells of artistic113 despair, but they were brief, for he relied on his strength of will to bring his writings to the perfection of which he dreamed. “This Biographic Notice of Louis Lambert,” he wrote to Laure, “is a work in which I have tried to rival Goethe and Byron, to out-do Faust and Manfred; and the tilt114 is not over yet, for the proof sheets are not yet corrected. I do not know whether I shall succeed, but this fourth volume of Philosophic Tales ought to be a final reply to my enemies, and ought to show my incontestable superiority.” When his family became concerned over his precarious115 situation, and the complications in which he had entangled116 himself, Balzac answered their reproaches by prophesying117 the future: “Yes, you are right,” he said to Laure, “I shall not stop, I shall go on and on until I attain118 my goal, and you will see the day when I shall be numbered among the great minds of my country.” Then, in the same letter, he added, for his mother’s benefit: “Yes, you are right, my progress is real and my infernal courage will be rewarded. Persuade my mother to think so too, dear sister; tell her to show me the charity of a little patience; her devotion will be rewarded! Some day, I hope, a little glory will pay her for everything! Poor mother! The imagination with which she endowed me is a perpetual bewilderment to her; she cannot tell north from south nor east from west; and that sort of journeying is fatiguing119, as I know from experience!
“Tell my mother that I love her as I did when I was a child. Tears overcome me as I write these lines, tears of tenderness and despair, for I foresee the future, and I shall need that devoted120 mother on the day of my triumph! But when will that day come?”
Lastly, he explained the necessity of his isolation121 and excused himself for it: “Some day, when my works are developed, you will realise that it required many an hour to think out and write so many things; then you will absolve122 me for all that has displeased123 you, and you will pardon, not the egoism of the man (for he has none), but the egoism of the thinker and worker.”
Towards the middle of July he left Sache in order to go to Angouleme, to visit Mme. Carraud, whose husband had been appointed Inspector124 of the Powder Works, just outside the town. He arrived there on the 17th, intending to stay five weeks and happy to have reached this friendly asylum. Mme. Carraud was one of the women who had the most faith in Balzac; she was the recipient125 of his confidences, even the most delicate ones; and when his conduct displeased her she did not hesitate to take him to task. In her home Honore was treated as a son of the family, and Commander Carraud also welcomed him with cordial affection. In their house, just as at Sache, he kept on with his work, for “I must work” was his life-long cry, which he sometimes uttered blithely126, in the luminous127 joy of creation, and sometimes with a horrible breathlessness, as though he was gradually being crushed by the weight of his superhuman task. But he never succumbed. From the moment of his arrival at the Powder Works, notwithstanding the fatigue128 of the journey, he hardly gave himself time to clasp the hands of his friends before he plunged129 into the concluding chapters of Louis Lambert; and even when he was not writing he gave himself no rest, but set about the preparation of new works. He led an even more cloistered130 life here than at Sache, interrupting all correspondence excepting business letters to his mother. For he was bent131 upon gaining two things, money and fame. Besides, there were the corrections to be made in The Chouans, in the fourth volume of the Philosophic Tales, and he was writing The Battle (which never was published), the Contes Drolatiques, the Studies of Women, the Conversations between Eleven o’Clock and Midnight, La Grenadiere (written in one night), and The Accursed Child, and at the same time was planning The Country Doctor, one of his most important works.
Meanwhile, Mme. Carraud was proud of her guest. She entertained her friends at the Powder Works, the father and mother of Alberic Second, and M. Berges, principal of the high school, who was later to support Balzac’s candidacy in Angouleme. The local paper, the Charentais, had announced the presence of the author of The Magic Skin, and when he went to have his hair cut by the barber, Fruchet, in the Place du Marche, he was the object of public attention. The young men of the democratic club called upon him and assured him that they would support his candidacy, in spite of his aristocratic opinions. Balzac awoke to a consciousness of the value of his name, and in the letters to his mother dealing96 with business relations with his publishers assumed a more commanding tone. She need not trouble herself further, he wrote, in calling on magazine editors; she was to send for M. Pichot, editor of the Revue de Paris, to come to her house, and she was to lay down certain conditions, which he could accept or refuse, according to whether he wanted more of Balzac’s copy or not. Pichot must agree in writing to pay two hundred francs a page, with no reduction for blank spaces. Balzac was to be at liberty to reprint the published articles in book form, and no disagreeable paragraph in reference to himself or his works was to be published in the magazine. So much for M. Pichot! Next, she was to summon M. Buloz, of the Revue des Deux Mondes, to come in his turn to her house, and here are the detailed132 instructions which Mme. de Balzac was to follow in his case: “You will show him the manuscript, without letting him take it with him, because you are only an agent and do not know the usual customs. Be very polite.
“You will tell him that I wish him to write a letter promising133 not to print anything displeasing134 to me in his magazine, either directly or indirectly135;
“That he shall give a receipt for all outstanding accounts, with settlement in full up to September 1, 1832, between me and the Revue;
“That my contributions are to be printed in the largest sized type;
“And paid at the rate of two hundred francs a page, without deduction136 for blank spaces.
“After he has agreed in writing to these terms, let him have The Orphans137 (the definitive138 title of which was La Grenadiere);
“Buloz must have a good article written on the Scenes and the fourth volume of the Philosophic Tales.”
Having taken this masterful tone, Balzac gave his mother this final practical recommendation, never to give any credit to the periodical and to demand the money immediately after publication of the article!
Having made all his plans in detail, Balzac left Angouleme on August 22, 1832, in order to join Mme. de Castries at the waters of Aix. It was an amorous139 adventure, yet he did not enter into it without certain misgivings140, for he did not know whether the Duchess was sincere or whether she was playing with his feelings. Nevertheless, he set out joyously141, although lightly equipped in the way of money — Commander Carraud was obliged to lend him a hundred and fifty francs — but with several stories begun and plenty of work on hand, for nothing, not even the hope of being loved by a woman of high position, could make him forget his work. He arrived at Limoges, where he saw Mme. Nivet, Mme. Carraud’s sister, who had bought him some enamels142, and to whom he applied143 to superintend his orders of porcelain144. Faithful to his method of documentation, he visited the sights of the city rapidly, within a few hours, and such was his keenness of vision and tenacity145 of memory that he was able afterwards to describe it all exactly, down to the slightest details. On the very evening after his arrival at Angouleme he set forth146 for Lyons, but the journey was fated not to be made without an accident, for in descending147 from an outside seat of the coach, at Thiers, Balzac struck his knee against one of the steps so violently that — in view of his heavy weight — he received a painful wound on his shin. He was tended at Lyons, the wound healed, and he profited by his enforced quiet to correct Louis Lambert and to add to it those “last thoughts” which form one of the highest monuments of human intelligence.
Honore de Balzac installed himself at Aix, near Mme. de Castries. He was happy, for she had received him with a thousand charming coquetries; and he had paid his court to her, yet he did not interrupt his work for a single day! “I have a simple little chamber148,” he wrote to Mme Carraud, “from which I can see the entire valley. I force myself pitilessly to rise at five o’clock in the morning, and I work beside my window until five-thirty in the afternoon. My breakfast, an egg, is sent in from the club. Mme. de Castries has some good coffee made for me. At six o’clock we dine together, and I pass the evening with her.”
Balzac lived economically. His chamber cost him two francs a day and his breakfast fifteen sous. Yet, after having rendered an account of his expenses to his mother, he was obliged to ask her for money; and he played her another of his characteristic neat little tricks. At Aix he had happened to run across a certain Auguste Sannegou, to whom he owed eleven hundred francs. And, as the latter had just been losing rather heavily, he offered to reimburse149 him, an offer which Sannegou lost no time in accepting with pleasure. Consequently it became necessary for Mme. de Balzac to send her son the eleven hundred francs post-haste, plus two hundred francs which he needed for his personal expenses. His mother made the sacrifice — for he sent her a beautiful account of perspective revenues: 3,000 francs from the Revue de Paris, 2,000 francs for La Bataille, 2,000 francs for a volume of Contes Drolatiques, 5,000 for four new volumes to be brought out by Mame, total 9,000 francs — and after he received the money he acknowledged that he paid only half the sum due to Sannegou, and kept the rest for a trip to Italy.
The Fitz-James family came to rejoin the duchess; Balzac was exultant150; he had been exceedingly well treated and had been promised a seat as deputy, if a general election took place; and he was to go to Rome in the same pleasant company. But he lacked money, and the sums which his mother was about to collect in Paris were destined to meet maturing notes. Besides, he was anxious to finish, without further delay, The Country Doctor, which he announced to his publisher, Mame, in triumphant terms:
“Be doubly attentive151, Master Mame!” he wrote. “I have been for a long time imbued152 with a desire for that form of popular fame which consists in selling many thousands of copies of a little 18mo volume like Atala, Paul and Virginia, The Vicar of Wakefield, Manon Lescaut, Perrault, etc., etc. The multiplicity of editions offsets153 the lack of a number of volumes. But the book must be one which can pass into all hands, those of the young girl, the child, the old man, and even the nun154. When the book once becomes known — which will take a long or a short time, according to the talent of the author and the ability of the publisher — it becomes a matter of importance. For example: the Meditations155 of Lamartine, of which sixty thousand copies were sold; the Ruins by Volny, etc.
“Accordingly, this is the spirit in which my book is conceived, a book which the janitor’s wife and the fashionable lady can both read. I have taken the New Testament156 and the Catechism, two books of excellent quality, and have wrought157 my own from them. I have laid the scene in a village — and, for the rest, you will read it in its entirety, a thing which rarely happens to a book of mine,”
for this work Balzac demanded a franc a volume, or seventy-five centimes at least, and an advance of a thousand francs. This sum was indispensable if he was to go to Italy. The trip began in October, under happy auspices158, and on the 16th they stopped over at Geneva. From there Balzac sent his mother two samples of flannel159 which he had worn over his stomach. He wanted her to show them to M. Chapelain, a practitioner160 of medical magnetism161, in order to consult him regarding a malady162 which he suspected that he had, and ask him where it was located and what treatment he should follow. Balzac was a believer in occult sciences, and once before, during the epidemic163 of cholera164 in 1832, he wrote to M. Chapelain, asking if he could not discover the origin of the scourge165 and find remedies capable of stopping it. It was not only magnetism that interested him, but clairvoyance166 as well, fortune tellers167 and readers of cards, to whom he attributed an acuteness of perception unknown to ordinary natures.
This enjoyable trip was destined to end at Geneva, so far as Balzac was concerned. Whether he realised that Mme. de Castries was merely playing with his affections, or whether his pride was hurt by some unlucky phrase, no one knows, but he suddenly deserted168 his companions and returned to France, offering as a pretext169 the urgency of his literary work. This adventure left an open wound, and it took more than five years to cure him. He suffered cruelly, and we get an echo of his pain in the line in the Country Doctor, “For wounded hearts, darkness and silence.” He avenged170 himself on Mme. de Castries by writing the Duchess of Langeais, in which he showed how a society woman amused herself by torturing a sensitive and sincere gentleman.
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physiology
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| n.生理学，生理机能 | |
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enrolled
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incapable
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grandeur
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edifice
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penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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picturesque
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alluring
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narrative
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besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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12
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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13
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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14
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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15
rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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16
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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17
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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18
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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19
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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20
aristocrat
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| n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物 | |
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21
aristocrats
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| n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
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22
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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23
salon
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| n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室 | |
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24
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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25
tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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27
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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28
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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29
severance
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| n.离职金；切断 | |
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30
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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31
expenditures
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| n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费 | |
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32
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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33
sumptuous
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| adj.豪华的，奢侈的，华丽的 | |
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34
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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35
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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36
salons
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| n.（营业性质的）店( salon的名词复数 )；厅；沙龙（旧时在上流社会女主人家的例行聚会或聚会场所）；（大宅中的）客厅 | |
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37
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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38
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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39
serial
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| n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的 | |
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40
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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41
endorsed
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| vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品 | |
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42
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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43
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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44
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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45
maroon
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| v.困住，使（人）处于孤独无助之境；n.逃亡黑奴；孤立的人；酱紫色，褐红色；adj.酱紫色的，褐红色的 | |
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46
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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47
dwarf
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| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
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48
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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49
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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50
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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51
congregated
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| （使）集合，聚集( congregate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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53
exuberant
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| adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的 | |
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54
overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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55
brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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56
militant
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| adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士 | |
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57
monogram
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| n.字母组合 | |
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58
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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59
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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60
prodigy
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| n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆 | |
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61
frivolity
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| n.轻松的乐事，兴高采烈；轻浮的举止 | |
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62
Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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63
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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64
prodigal
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| adj.浪费的，挥霍的，放荡的 | |
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65
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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66
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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67
vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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68
sojourns
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| n.逗留，旅居( sojourn的名词复数 ) | |
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69
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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70
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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71
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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72
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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73
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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74
irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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75
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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76
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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77
salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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78
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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79
onward
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|
| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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80
nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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81
kindly
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|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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82
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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83
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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84
temperaments
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| 性格( temperament的名词复数 )； （人或动物的）气质； 易冲动； （性情）暴躁 | |
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85
extravagant
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|
| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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86
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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87
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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88
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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89
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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90
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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91
bankruptcy
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| n.破产；无偿付能力 | |
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92
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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93
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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94
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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95
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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96
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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97
silhouette
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| n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓 | |
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98
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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99
philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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100
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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101
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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102
prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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103
elusive
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| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
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104
prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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105
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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106
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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107
creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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108
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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109
despoil
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| v.夺取，抢夺 | |
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110
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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111
apoplectic
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| adj.中风的；愤怒的；n.中风患者 | |
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112
prostrated
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| v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力 | |
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113
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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114
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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115
precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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116
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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117
prophesying
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的现在分词 ) | |
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118
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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119
fatiguing
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| a.使人劳累的 | |
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120
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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121
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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122
absolve
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| v.赦免，解除（责任等） | |
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123
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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124
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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125
recipient
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| a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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126
blithely
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| adv.欢乐地，快活地，无挂虑地 | |
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127
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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128
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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129
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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130
cloistered
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| adj.隐居的，躲开尘世纷争的v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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131
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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132
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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133
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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134
displeasing
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| 不愉快的，令人发火的 | |
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135
indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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137
orphans
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| 孤儿( orphan的名词复数 ) | |
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138
definitive
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| adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的 | |
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139
amorous
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| adj.多情的；有关爱情的 | |
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140
misgivings
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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141
joyously
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| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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142
enamels
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| 搪瓷( enamel的名词复数 )； 珐琅； 釉药； 瓷漆 | |
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143
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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144
porcelain
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| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
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145
tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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146
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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147
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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148
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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149
reimburse
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| v.补偿，付还 | |
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150
exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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151
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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152
imbued
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| v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的过去式和过去分词 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等） | |
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153
offsets
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| n.开端( offset的名词复数 )；出发v.抵消( offset的第三人称单数 )；补偿；（为了比较的目的而）把…并列（或并置）；为（管道等）装支管 | |
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154
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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155
meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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156
testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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157
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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158
auspices
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| n.资助，赞助 | |
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159
flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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160
practitioner
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| n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
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161
magnetism
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| n.磁性，吸引力，磁学 | |
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162
malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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163
epidemic
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| n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的 | |
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164
cholera
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| n.霍乱 | |
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165
scourge
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| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
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166
clairvoyance
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| n.超人的洞察力 | |
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167
tellers
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| n.（银行）出纳员( teller的名词复数 )；（投票时的）计票员；讲故事等的人；讲述者 | |
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168
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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169
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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170
avenged
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| v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复 | |
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