Was this a sinister omen, or was it an exemplification of the old Turkish proverb, “The house completed, death enters”?  Our hero’s marriage proved to be the last of his illusions perdues, for only three months more were to be granted him.  MM.  Hanotaux et Vicaire have pertinently remarked that five years before his death, Balzac closed Les petites Miseres de la Vie conjugal with these prophetic words:  “Who has not heard an Italian opera of some kind in his life? . . .  You must have noticed, then, the musical abuse of the word felichitta lavished by the librettist and the chorus at the time every one is rushing from his box or leaving his stall.  Ghastly image of life.  One leaves it the moment the felichitta is heard.”  After so many years of waiting and struggle, he attained the summit of happiness, but was to obey the summons of death and leave this world just as the chorus was singing “Felichitta.”

Some of Balzac’s biographers have criticized Madame Honore de Balzac not only for having been heartless and indifferent towards him, but for having neglected him in his last days on earth.  Her nephew, M. Stanislas Rzewuski, defended her, he said, not because she was his aunt but because of the injustice done to the memory of this poor etrangere, whose faithful tenderness, admiration and devotion had comforted the earthly exile of a man of genius.  Balzac, realizing his hopeless condition, was despondent; his hopes were blighted, and his physical sufferings doubtless made him irritable.  On the other hand, Madame de Balzac, however, seductive and charming, however worthy of being adored and being his “star,” had a high temper.  This was the natural temper of an aristocratic woman.  It never passed the limits of decorum, but it was violent and easily provoked.[*] Then too, she had been accustomed to luxury and had never known poverty.  She was ill also and probably disappointed in life.

[*] The Princess Radziwill states that there are several inaccuracies
    in this article by her half-brother.  He was very young when their
    aunt died, and he was influenced by his mother, who never liked
    Madame de Balzac.  She points out that her aunt’s temper was most
    even, that she never heard her raise her voice, and only once saw
    her angry.

M. Rzewuski has resented, and doubtless justly so, the oft-quoted death scene by Victor Hugo.  He says that at such a time the great poet was perhaps a most unwelcome guest and she had left the room to avoid him; that she probably returned before Balzac’s last moments came; that Hugo was only there a short while; that if she did not return she could not have known that this was to be Balzac’s last night on earth, and that, worn out with watching and waiting, she was justified in retiring to seek a much needed rest.[*]