delightful unity. Her manner was in perfect accord with her figure
and her dress. Only in certain women at a certain age is it given
to put language into their attitude. Is it sorrow, is it happiness
that gives to the woman of thirty, to the happy or unhappy woman,
the secret of this eloquence of carriage? This will always be an
enigma which each interprets by the aid of his hopes, desires, or
theories. The way in which she leaned both elbows on the arm of
her chair, the toying of her inter-clasped fingers, the curve of
her throat, the freedom of her languid but lithesome body which
reclined in graceful exhaustion, the unconstraint of her limbs,
the carelessness of her pose, the utter lassitude of her
movements, all revealed a woman without interest in life. . . ."

Balzac's parents having moved from Villeparisis to Versailles, he had
an excellent opportunity of seeing the Duchess while visiting them, as
she was living at that time in the Grand-Rue de Montreuil No. 65, in a
pavilion which she called her _ermitage_. In _La Femme de trente Ans_,
Balzac has described her retreat as a country house between the church
and the barrier of Montreuil, on the road which leads to the Avenue de
Saint-Cloud. This house, built originally for the short-lived loves of
some great lord, was situated so that the owner could enjoy all the
pleasures of solitude with the city almost at his gates.

Soon after their meeting, a sympathetic friendship was formed between
the two writers; they had the same literary aspirations, the same love
for work, the same love of luxury and extravagant tastes, the same
struggles with poverty and the same trials and disappointments.

Since Balzac was attracted to beautiful names as well as to beautiful
women, that of the Duchesse d'Abrantes appealed to him, independently