last year, as any one can see.  I am in doubt what to do.  But I must come to some determination within a few days.  When my furniture has been sold, and when I have disposed of ‘Les Jardies,’ I shall not have much left.  And I shall find myself alone in the world with nothing but my pen, and an attic.  In such a situation shall I be able to do more for you than I am doing at this moment?  I shall have to live from hand to mouth by writing articles which I can no longer write with the agility of youth which is no more.  The world, and even relations, mistake me; I am engrossed by my work, and they think I am absorbed in myself.  I am not blind to the fact, that up to the present moment, working as I work, I have not succeeded in paying my debts, nor in supporting myself.  No future will save me.  I must do something else, look out for some other position.  And it is at a time like this that you ask me to enter into an engagement!  Two years ago I should have done so, and have deceived myself.  Now all I can say is, come to me and share my crust.  You were in a tolerable position; I had a domestic whose devotion spared you all the worry of housekeeping; you were not called on to enter into every detail, you were quiet and peaceful.  You wished me to count for something in your life, when it was imperative for you to forget my existence and allow me the entire liberty without which I can do nothing.  It is not a fault in you, it is the nature of women.  Now everything is changed.  If you wish to come back, you will have to bear a little of the burden which is about to weigh me down, and which hitherto has only pressed upon you because you chose to take it to yourself.  All this is business, and in no way involves my affection for you, which is always the same; so believe in the tenderness of your devoted son.”

Later, when Balzac purchased his home in the rue Fortunee, his mother had the care of it while he was in Russia.  He asked her to visit the house weekly and to keep the servants on the alert by enquiring as though she expected him; yet Balzac wrote his nieces to have their grandmother visit them often, lest she carry too far the duties she imposed on herself in looking after his little home.  He cautioned her to allow no one to enter the house, to insist that his old servant Francois be discreet, and especially that she be prudent in not talking about his plans; and that by all means she should take a carriage while attending to his affairs; this request was not only from him but also from Madame Hanska.

She was most faithful in looking after his home and watching the workmen to see that his instructions were carried out.  In fact, she never left the house except when, on one occasion, owing to the excessive odors of the paint, she spent two nights in Laure’s home.

Balzac’s stay at Wierzchownia, however, was far from tranquil, for his mother was discontented with the general aspect of his affairs and increased his vexations by writing a letter in which she addressed him as vous, declaring that her affection was conditional on his behavior, a thing he naturally resented.  “To think,” he writes, “of a mother reserving the right to love a son like me, seventy-two years on the one side, and fifty on the other!”