Every day I have occasion to deplore the eternal absence. Would
you believe that for six months I have not been able to go to
Nemours to bring away the things that ought to be in my sole
possession? Every week I say to myself, 'It shall be this week!
. . .' I was very unhappy in my youth, but Madame de Berny
balanced all by an absolute devotion, which was understood to its
full extent only when the grave had seized its prey. Yes, I was
spoiled by that angel."[*]

[*] Madame de Berny died July 27, 1836.

So faithful was Balzac to the memory of his _Dilecta_ that nine years
after her death, he was deeply affected on seeing at the _Cour
d'Assises_ a woman about forty-five years of age, who strongly
resembled Madame de Berny, and who was being arraigned for deeds
caused by her devotion to a reckless youth.


LA DUCHESSE DE CASTRIES.--MADEMOISELLE DE TRUMILLY

"He who has not seen, at some ball of Madame, Duchesse de Berry,
glide airily, scarcely touching the floor, so moving that one
perceived in her only grace before knowing whether she was a
beauty, a young woman with blond, deep-golden hair; he who has not
seen appear then the young Marquise de Castries in a fete, cannot,
without doubt, form an idea of this new beauty, charming, aerial,
praised and honored in the salons of the Restoration."

Balzac had a brief, yet ardent friendship with the Duchesse de
Castries which ended so unhappily for him that one might say: "Heaven