“All this is suggested while looking at your sepia drawing; and while preparing a gift, precious in the sight of those who love me, and of which I am chary, I refuse it to all who have not deeply touched my heart, or who have not done me a service; it is a thing of no value, except where there is heartfelt friendship.”

During his imprisonment by order of the National Guard, she sent him flowers, for which he was very profuse in expressing his thanks.  He appreciated especially the roses which came on his birthday, and wished her as many tender things as there were scents in the blooming buds.

She apparently had some misfortune, and their correspondence terminated abruptly in this, his last letter to her: 

“Carina, . . .  On my return from a long and difficult journey, undertaken for the refreshment of my over-tired brain, I find this letter from you, very concise, and melancholy enough in its solitude; it is, however, a token of your remembrance.  That you may be happy is the wish of my heart, a very pure and disinterested wish, since you have decided that thus it is to be.  I once more take up my work, and in that, as in a battle, the struggle occupies one entirely; one suffers, but the heart becomes calm.”

Facino Cane was dedicated to Louise: 

“As a mark of affectionate gratitude.”

CHAPTER V

SENTIMENTAL FRIENDSHIPS

MADAME DE BERNY

“I have to stand alone now amidst my troubles; formerly I had beside me in my struggles the most courageous and the sweetest person in the world, a woman whose memory is each day renewed in my heart, and whose divine qualities make all other friendships when compared with hers seem pale.  I no longer have help in the difficulties of life; when I am in doubt about any matter, I have now no other guide than this final thought, ’If she were alive, what would she say?’ Intellects of this order are rare.”

Balzac loved to seek the sympathy and confidence of people whose minds were at leisure, and who could interest themselves in his affairs.  With his artistic temperament, he longed for the refinement, society and delicate attentions which he found in the friendships of various women.  “The feeling of abandonment and of solitude in which I am stings me.  There is nothing selfish in me; but I need to tell my thoughts, my efforts, my feelings to a being who is not myself; otherwise I have no strength.  I should wish for no crown if there were no feet at which to lay that which men may put upon my head.”