One is surprised to see what foresight Balzac had—­so many things he said proved to be true.  He thought, for instance, that Anna had the physique to live a hundred years, that she had no sense of the practical, that her mother—­as he took care to warn her—­would do well to keep her estate separate from her daughter’s, or otherwise she might some day have cause for regret.  Whether Madame Honore de Balzac was too busy with literary and business duties after her husband’s death, or whether her extreme affection prevented her from refusing her only child anything she wished, the results were disastrous.  It was fortunate for Balzac that he did not live to see the fate of this paragon, for this would have grieved him deeply, while he probably would not have been able to remedy matters.

While a part of Balzac’s affection for Anna was doubtless owing to his adoration for her mother, she must have had in her own person some very charming traits, for after he had lived in their home for more than a year, where he must have studied her most carefully, he says of her:  “It is true that the Countess Anna and Count George are two ideal perfections; I did not believe two such beings could exist.  There is a nobleness of life and sentiment, a gentleness of manners, an evenness of temper, which cannot be believed unless you have lived with them.  With all this, there is a playfulness, a spontaneous gaiety, which dispels weariness or monotony.  Never have I been so thoroughly in my right place as here.”

Balzac certainly was not tactful in continually praising the young Countess to his sister and his nieces, but he was doubtless sincere, and no record has been found of his ever having changed his opinion of this young Russian whom he loved so tenderly.

A woman who played an important role in Balzac’s association with Madame Hanska was Mademoiselle Henriette Borel, called Lirette.  She had been governess in the home of Madame Hanska since 1824.  Sympathetic and devoted to the children, she grieved when death took them.  She helped save Anna’s life, for which the entire family loved her.  It was doubtless due to her influence that M. de Hanski and his family chose Neufchatel, her home city, as a place to sojourn.  They arrived there in the summer of 1833, and left early in October of the same year.  While at Neufchatel they were very gracious to Lirette’s relatives and Madame Hanska invited them to visit her at Geneva.

Whether Lirette wrote with her own hand the first letter sent by Madame Hanska to Balzac—­letters which de Lovenjoul says were not in the handwriting of the Predilecta—­we shall probably never know, but that she knew of the secret correspondence and aided in it is seen from the following: