Vieille-Poste and the rue de la Cite an old house, on the ground-floor
of which was the shop of a dealer in old iron. With the clearness of
vision peculiar to him, he decided that this would be a suitable
setting for the work of fiction he had already outlined in his mind.
It is here that are unfolded the first scenes of _Le Cure de Village_,
while on one of the banks of the Vienne is committed the crime which
forms the basis of the story.



CHAPTER III

LITERARY FRIENDS


MADAME GAY--MADAME HAMELIN--MADAME DE GIRARDIN--MADAME
DESBORDES-VALMORE--MADAME DORVAL

"O matre pulchra filia pulchrior!"

Though Balzac did not go out in "society" a great deal, he was
fortunate in associating with the best literary women of his time, and
in knowing the charming Madame Sophie Gay, whose salon he frequented,
and her three daughters. Elisa, the eldest of these, was married to
Count O'Donnel. Delphine was married June 1, 1831, to Emile de
Girardin, and Isaure, to Theodore Garre, son of Madame Sophie Gail, an
intimate friend of Madame Gay. These two women were known as "Sophie
la belle" and "Sophie la laide" or "Sophie de la parole" and "Sophie
de la musique." Together they composed an _opera-comique_ which had
some success. In 1814, Madame Gay wrote _Anatole_, an interesting