numerous ways of showing her affection. At this time he wandered about
in the fresh air of the province of Touraine, and learned to love its
beautiful scenery, which he has immortalized in various novels.

After he had spent a year of this rustic life, his family moved to
Paris in the fall of 1814. There he continued his studies with M.
Lepitre, whose Royalist principles doubtless influenced him. He
attended lectures at the Sorbonne also, strolling meanwhile about the
Latin Quarter, and in 1816 was placed in the law office of M. de
Guillonnet-Merville, a friend of the family, and an ardent Royalist.
After eighteen months in this office, he spent more than a year in the
office of a notary, M. Passez, who was also a family friend.

It was probably during this period of residence in Paris that he first
met Madame de Berny, she who was later to wield so great an influence
over him and who held first place in his heart until their separation
in 1832. Probably at this same period, too, he met Zulma Tourangin, a
schoolmate of his sister Laure, and who, as Madame Carraud, was to
become his life-long friend. Of all the friendships that Balzac was
destined to form with women, this with Madame Carraud was one of the
purest, longest and most beautiful.

Having attained his majority and finished his legal studies, Balzac
was requested by his father to enter the office of M. Passez and
become a business man, but the life was so distasteful to him that he
objected and asked permission to spend his time as best he might in
developing his literary ability, a request which, in spite of the
opposition of the family, was finally granted for a term of two years.
He was accordingly allowed to establish himself in a small attic at
No. 9 rue Lesdiguieres, while his family moved to Villeparisis.