[*] Honore de Balzac.  He employed Madame Vaillant as a servant.

VALDES (Paquita), born in the West Indies about 1793, daughter of a slave bought in Georgia on account of her great beauty; lived in the early part of the Restoration and during the Hundred Days in Hotel San-Real, rue Saint-Lazare, Paris, with her mother and her foster-father, Christemio.  In April, 1815, in the Jardin des Tuileries, she was met by Henri de Marsay, who loved her.  She agreed to receive him secretly in her own home.  She gave up everything for his sake, but in a transport of love, she cried out from force of habit:  “O Mariquita!” This put her lover in such a fury that he tried to kill her.  Not being able to do this, he returned, accompanied by some other members of “The Thirteen,” only to find Paquita murdered; for, the Marquise de San-Real, Marsay’s own sister, who was very jealous of the favors granted the man by this girl, has slashed her savagely with a dagger.  Having been kept in retirement since she was twelve years old, Paquita Valdes knew neither how to read nor to write.  She spoke only English and Spanish.  On account of the peculiar color of her eyes she was known as “the girl with the golden eyes,” by some young men, one of whom was Paul de Manerville, who had noticed her during his promenades. [The Thirteen.]

VALDEZ, a Spanish admiral, constitutional minister of King Ferdinand VII. in 1820; was obliged to flee at the time of the reaction, and embarked on an English vessel.  His escape was due to the warning given him by Baron de Macumer, who told him in time. [Letters of Two Brides.]

VALENTIN (De), head of a historic house of Auvergne, which had fallen into poverty and obscurity; cousin of the Duc de Navarreins; came to Paris under the monarchy, and made for himself an excellent place at the “very heart of power.”  This he lost during the Revolution.  Under the Empire he bought many pieces of property given by Napoleon to his generals; but the fall of Napoleon ruined him completely.  He reared his only son, Raphael, with great harshness, although he expected him to restore the house to its former position.  In the autumn of 1826, six months after he had paid his creditors, he died of a broken heart.  The Valentins had on their arms:  an eagle of gold in a field of sable, crowned with silver, beak and talons with gules, with this device:  “The soul has not perished.” [The Magic Skin.]

VALENTIN (Madame de), born Barbe-Marie O’Flaharty, wife of the preceding; heiress of a wealthy house; died young, leaving to her only son an islet in the Loire. [The Magic Skin.]