which he afterwards repeated in some of his works.

In spite of all his hopes and efforts, the business went from bad to
worse, and Balzac endured all the agonies of a merchant who sees the
dawn of the day when a note falls due and knows that his cash drawer is
empty. We can picture him, anxiously studying his account books, with
his elbows on his desk, and imagining a thousand ingenious means of
meeting his financial troubles. But the hard reality shattered them,
one by one, like thin glass. He was a prey to the money-lenders and the
lawyers, who had no mercy upon a poor wretch who had failed to "make
good," and accomplish his ruin with mathematical indifference. The
sheriffs, the attorneys, the usurers, the intrusive hordes of clerks
and process-servers swooped down upon the printing house and the
printer, eager to share the spoils. Honore de Balzac, alone in his
"horrible struggle," stood at bay against the pack, using all the
stratagems that he had learned in long years of conflict to throw them
off the track and save his last remaining resources. He put forth all
his accumulated cleverness, his fertile spirit of invention, yet he
finally had to yield to superior numbers, and witness the rapid and
steady disintegration of a business on which he had staked so many
hopes.

But a new opportunity presented itself; his imagination caught fire,
and he foresaw a fortune, an assured fortune which nothing could take
from him,--and once again he laughed his deep, sonorous, powerful laugh,
defying destiny. In September, 1827, a type foundry was offered for
sale, after having failed, and Balzac, in conjunction with Barbier and
the assignee Laurent, bought it for the sum of thirty-six thousand
francs. Mme. de Berny, with her inalienable devotion, joined with him
in the new venture, contributing nine thousand francs as her share. The