one of my college friends, ex-captain in the ex-Royal Guard, who
advised me. It all ended with a piquant speech replying to a
jest."

However, in answering the invitation of Madame de Girardin, Balzac
wrote most courteously expressing his regrets at Madame O'Donnel's
illness and pleading work as his excuse for not accepting. This did
not prevent the ardent peacemaker from making another attempt. Taking
advantage of her husband's absence a few weeks later, she invited
Balzac to lunch with Madame O'Donnel and herself. But time had not yet
done its work, so Balzac declined, saying it would be illogical for
him to accept when M. de Girardin was not at home, since he did not go
there when he was present. The following excerpts from his letters,
declining her various invitations, show that Balzac regarded her as
his friend:

"The regret I experience is caused quite as much by the blue eyes
and blond hair of a lady who I believe to be my friend--and whom I
would gladly have for mine--as by those black eyes which you
recall to my remembrance, and which had made an impression on me.
But indeed I can not come. . . . Your _salon_ was almost the only
one where I found myself on a footing of friendship. You will
hardly perceive my absence; and I remain alone. I thank you with
sincere and affectionate feeling, for your kind persistence. I
believe you to be actuated by a good motive; and you will always
find in me something of devotion towards you in all that
personally concerns yourself."

Her attempts to restore the friendship were futile, owing to the
obstinacy of the quarrel, but she eventually succeeded by means of her