Chapter 8 :: At Les Jardies.

Chapter 9 :: In Retirement.



Chapter 1.

The Treatise on the Human Will.

At Balzac's funeral, the glorious yet bitter seal upon his destiny,
Victor Hugo delivered a magnificent address, and in his capacity as
poet and seer proclaimed with assurance the judgment of posterity:

"His life has been brief yet full, and richer in works than
in days.

"Alas! This powerful and indefatigable worker, this
philosopher, this thinker, this poet, this genius has lived
amongst us that life of storms, of struggles, of quarrels, of
combats, which has always been the common lot of all great
men. Today we see him at peace. He has escaped from
controversies and enmities. He has entered, on the selfsame
day, into glory and into the tomb. Henceforward he will shine
far above all those clouds which float over our heads, among
the brightest stars of his native land."

This discourse was admirable for its truth, its justice and its
far-sightedness, a golden palm branch laid upon the author's tomb,
around which there still arose clamours and bitter arguments, denying