write to you without fear.  Sign it; to l’E——­ H. de B.’  This acknowledgment of reception appeared in the Quotidienne of December 9.  Thus was inaugurated the system of petite correspondence now practised in divers newspapers, and at the same time, this correspondence with her who was seventeen years later, in 1850, to become his wife."[*]

[*] Miss M. F. Sandars states that a copy of the Quotidienne
    containing this acknowledgment was in the possession of the
    Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, and that she saw it.  At the
    time of writing this preface, Miss Wormeley did not believe the
    correspondence began until February, 1833.  In undertaking to prove
    this, she cited a letter from Balzac written to Madame Hanska,
    dated January 4, 1846, in which he says that the thirteen years
    will soon be completed since he received her first letter.  She
    corrects this statement, however, in writing her Memoir of
    Balzac three years later.  The mistake in this letter here
    mentioned is only an example of the inaccuracy of Balzac, found
    not only in his letters, but throughout the Comedie humaine.  But
    Miss Wormeley’s argument might have been refuted by quoting
    another letter from Balzac to Madame Hanska dated February, 1840: 
    “After eight years you do not know me!”

Regarding the two letters published in Un Roman d’Amour, pp. 33-49, dated November 7, 1832, and January 8, 1833, and signed l’Etrangere, Miss Wormeley says it is not necessary to notice them, since the author himself states that they are not in Madame Hanska’s handwriting.

She is quite correct in this, for Spoelberch de Lovenjoul writes:  “How many letters did Balzac receive thus?  No one knows.  But we possess two, neither of which is in Madame Hanska’s handwriting.”  In speaking of the first letter that arrived, he says: 

“This first record of interest which was soon to change its nature, has unfortunately not been found yet.  Perhaps this page perished in the autodafe which, as the result of a dramatic adventure, Balzac made of all the letters he had received from Madame Hanska; perhaps also, by dint of rereading it, he had worn it out and involuntarily destroyed it himself.  We do not know.  In any case, we have not found it in the part of his papers which have fallen into our hands.  We regret it very much, for this letter must be remarkable to have produced so great an impression on the future author of the Comedie humaine.”

The question arises:  If Balzac burned in 1847 “all the letters he had received from Madame Hanska,” how could de Lovenjoul publish in 1896 two letters that he alleged to be from her, dated in 1832 and 1833?

The Princess Radziwill who is the niece of Madame Honore de Balzac and was reared by her in the house of Balzac in the rue Fortunee, has been both gracious and generous to the present writer in giving her much valuable information that could not have been obtained elsewhere.  In answer to the above question, she states: