active in politics at this time.

In the course of this same year (1832) there came to him an anonymous
letter of great significance, dated from the distant Ukraine, and
signed _l'Etrangere_. Though not at that time giving him the slightest
presentiment of the outcome, this letter was destined eventually to
change the entire life of the novelist. A notice in the _Quotidienne_
acknowledging the receipt of it brought about a correspondence which
in the course of events revealed to the author that the stranger's
real name was Madame Hanska.

Love affairs, however, were far from being the only things that
occupied Balzac. He was continually besieged by creditors; the clouds
of his indebtedness were ever ready to burst over his head. Meanwhile,
his mother became more and more displeased with him, and impatient at
his constant calls upon her for the performance of all manner of
services. She now urged him to make a rich marriage and thus put an
end to his troubles and hers. But such was not Balzac's inclination,
and he rightly considered himself the most deeply concerned in the
matter.

All the while he was prodigiously productive, but the profits from his
works were exceedingly small. This fact was due to his method of
composition, according to which some of his works were revised a dozen
times or more, and also to the Belgian piracies, from which all
popular French authors suffered. In addition to this, his extravagant
tastes developed from year to year, and thus prevented him from
materially reducing his debts.

Unlike most Frenchmen, Balzac was particularly fond of travel in