eleven hundred francs. And, as the latter had just been losing rather
heavily, he offered to reimburse him, an offer which Sannegou lost no
time in accepting with pleasure. Consequently it became necessary for
Mme. de Balzac to send her son the eleven hundred francs post-haste,
plus two hundred francs which he needed for his personal expenses. His
mother made the sacrifice,--for he sent her a beautiful account of
perspective revenues: 3,000 francs from the Revue de Paris, 2,000
francs for La Bataille, 2,000 francs for a volume of Contes
Drolatiques, 5,000 for four new volumes to be brought out by Mame,
total 9,000 francs,--and after he received the money he acknowledged
that he paid only half the sum due to Sannegou, and kept the rest for a
trip to Italy.

The Fitz-James family came to rejoin the duchess; Balzac was exultant;
he had been exceedingly well treated and had been promised a seat as
deputy, if a general election took place; and he was to go to Rome in
the same pleasant company. But he lacked money, and the sums which his
mother was about to collect in Paris were destined to meet maturing
notes. Besides, he was anxious to finish, without further delay, The
Country Doctor, which he announced to his publisher, Mame, in
triumphant terms:

"Be doubly attentive, Master Mame!" he wrote. "I have been for a long
time imbued with a desire for that form of popular fame which consists
in selling many thousands of copies of a little 18mo volume like Atala,
Paul and Virginia, The Vicar of Wakefield, Manon Lescaut, Perrault,
etc., etc. The multiplicity of editions offsets the lack of a number of
volumes. But the book must be one which can pass into all hands, those
of the young girl, the child, the old man, and even the nun. When the
book once becomes known,--which will take a long or a short time,