The year 1850, which was to prove so fatal to Balzac, opened with a bad omen, had he realized it.  His health, which he had never considered as he should have done, was seriously affected, and early in January another illness followed which kept him in bed for several days.  He thought that he had finally become acclimated, but after another attack a few weeks later he concluded that the climate was impossible for nervous temperaments.

Such was, in brief, the story of his stay in Russia, but his optimism and devotion continued, and he writes: 

“It is sanguine to think I could set off on March 15, and in that case I should arrive early in April.  But if my long cherished hopes are realized, there would be a delay of some days, as I should have to go to Kieff, to have my passport regulated.  These hopes have become possibilities; these four or five successive illnesses—­the sufferings of a period of acclimatization—­which my affection has enabled me to take joyfully, have touched this sweet soul more than the few little debts which remain unpaid have frightened her as a prudent woman, and I foresee that all will go well.  In the face of this happy probability, the journey to Kieff is not to be regretted, for the Countess has nursed me heroically without once leaving the house, so you ought not to afflict yourself for the little delay which will thus be caused.  Even in that case, my, or our, arrival would be in the first fortnight of April.”

Until the very last, Balzac was very careful that his family should not announce his expected wedding.  Finally, all obstacles overcome, the long desired marriage occurred March 14, 1850.[*]

[*] Though Balzac speaks of having to obtain the Czar’s permission to
    marry, the Princess Radziwill states that no permission was
    required, asked or granted.  Balzac always gave March 14, 1850, as
    the date of his marriage while de Lovenjoul and M. Stanislas
    Rzewuski give the date as April 15, 1850.  The Princess Radziwill
    writes:  “Concerning the date of Balzac’s marriage, it was
    solemnized as he wrote it to his family on March 2_14_1850, at
    Berditcheff in Poland.  Balzac, however, was a French subject, and
    as such had to be married according to the French civil law, by a
    French consul.  There did not exist one in Berditcheff, so they had
    perforce to repair to Kieff for this ceremony.  The latter took
    place on April 3_15 of the same year, and this explains the
    discrepancy of dates you mention which refer to two different
    ceremonies.”

What must have been the novelist’s feeling of triumph, after almost seventeen years of waiting, suffering and struggle, to write: