But how could Balzac remain long her ardent lover, when Madame de Berny, of whom Madame d’Abrantes was jealous, felt that he was leaving her for a duchess?  And how could he remain more than a friend to Madame Junot, when the beautiful Duchesse de Castries was for a short time complete mistress of his heart,[*] and was in her turn to be replaced by Madame Hanska?  The Duchess could probably understand his inconstancy, for she not only knew of his attachment to Madame de Castries but he wrote her on his return from his first visit to Madame Hanska at Neufchatel, describing the journey and saying that the Val de Travers seemed made for two lovers.

[*] It is an interesting coincidence that the Duchess whose star was
    waning had been in love with the fascinating Austrian ambassador,
    Comte de Metternich, and the Duchess who was to take her place,
    was just recovering from an amorous disappointment in connection
    with his son when she met Balzac.

Knowing Balzac’s complicated life, one can understand how, having gone to Corsica in quest of his Eldorado just before the poor Duchess breathed her last, he could write to Madame Hanska on his return to Paris:  “The newspapers have told you of the deplorable end of the poor Duchesse d’Abrantes.  She has ended like the Empire.  Some day I will explain her to you,—­some good evening at Wierzschownia.”

Balzac wished to keep his visits to Madame d’Abrantes a secret from his sister, Madame Surville, and some obscurity and a “mysterious pavilion” is connected with their manner of communication.  For a while she visited him frequently in his den.  He enjoyed her society, and though oppressed by work, was quite ready to fix upon an evening when they could be alone.

It was not without pain that she saw his affection for her becoming less ardent while hers remained fervent.  She wrote him tender letters inviting him to dine with her, or to meet some of her friends, assuring him that in her ermitage he might feel perfectly at home, and that she regarded him as one of the most excellent friends Heaven had preserved for her.

“Heaven grant that you are telling me the truth, and that indeed I may always be for you a good and sincere friend. . . .  My dear Honore, every one tells me that you no longer care for me. . . .  I say that they lie. . . .  You are not only my friend, but my sincere and good friend.  I have kept for you a profound affection, and this affection is of a nature that does not change. . . .  Here is Catherine, here is my first work.  I am sending it to you, and it is the heart of a friend that offers it to you.  May it be the heart of a friend that receives it! . . .  My soul is oppressed on account of this, but it is false, I hope.”

Balzac continued to visit her occasionally, and there exists a curious specimen of his handwriting written (October, 1835) in the album of her daughter, Madame Aubert.  He sympathized with the unfortunate Duchess who, raised to so high a rank, had fallen so low, and tried to cheer her in his letters: