Albert Savarus was falsely accused of being married, just as Madame Hanska had accused Balzac.  The letters to the Duchess from Savarus are quite similar to some Balzac wrote to Madame Hanska.  Like Balzac, Savarus saw few people, worked at night, was poor, ever hopeful, communed with the portrait of his adored one, had trouble in regard to the delivery of her letters, and was worried when they did not come; yet he was patient and willing to wait until the Duke should die.  Like Madame Hanska, the Duchess feared her lover was unfaithful to her, and in both cases a woman sowed discord, though the results were different.[*]

[*] Miss K. P. Wormeley does not think that Albert Savarus was
    inspired by Balzac’s relations with Madame Hanska.  For her
    arguments, see Memoir of Balzac.

Madame Hanska did not care for this book, but Balzac told her she was not familiar enough with French society to appreciate it.

Miss Mary Hanford Ford thinks that Madame Hanska inspired another of Balzac’s works:  “It is probable that in Madame de la Chanterie we are given Balzac’s impassioned and vivid idealization of the woman who became his wife at last. . . .  Balzac’s affection for Madame Hanska was to a large degree tinged with the reverence which the Brotherhood shared for Madame de la Chanterie. . . .”  While the Freres de la Consolation adored Madame de la Chanterie in a beautiful manner, neither her life nor her character was at all like Madame Hanska’s.  This work is dated December, 1847, Wierzchownia, and was doubtless finished there, but he had been working on it for several years.

In the autumn of 1842,[*] Madame Hanska went to St. Petersburg.  She complained of a sadness and melancholy which Balzac’s most ardent devotion could not overcome.  He became her patito, and she the queen of his life, but he too suffered from depression, and even consented to wait three years for her if she would only permit him to visit her.  He insisted that his affection was steadfast and eternal, but in addition to showing him coldness, she unjustly rebuked him, having heard that he was gambling.  She had a prolonged lawsuit, and he wished her to turn the matter over to him, feeling sure that he could win the case for her.

[*] Emile Faguet, Balzac, says that it was in 1843 that Madame
    Hanska went to St. Petersburg.  He has made several such slight
    mistakes throughout this work.

Thus passed the year 1842.  She eventually consented to let him come in May to celebrate his birthday.  But alas!  A great remora stood in the way.  Poor Balzac did not have the money to make the trip.  Then also he had literary obligations to meet, but he felt very much fatigued from excessive work and wanted to leave Paris for a rest.  Her letters were so unsatisfactory that he implored her to engrave in her dear mind, if she would not write it in her heart, that he wished her to use some of