dated November 7th, the "Foreign Lady" requested him to let her know of
its safe arrival: "A line from you, published in La Quotidienne, will
assure me that you have received my letter, and that I may write to you
without fear. Sign it, A L'E. H. de B. ('To the Foreign Lady from H. de
B.')." The line requested appeared in La Quotidienne, in its issue of
December 9th, and thus began a long and almost daily correspondence
which was destined to last for seventeen years.

The "Foreign Lady" was a Polish woman of noble birth, Mme. Hanska, who
before her marriage was Countesse Eveline Rzewuska, who lived at her
chateau of Wierzchownia, in Volhynia, with her husband, who possessed
vast estates, and her daughter, Anna, who was still a child. Mme.
Hanska had read the Scenes from Private Life, and she had been filled
with enthusiasm for the author's talent and with a great hope of being
able to exert an influence over his mind and to direct his ideas.

The mysterious nature of this strange correspondence pleased Balzac: he
was able, in the course of it, to give free rein to his imagination,
and at the same time to picture her to himself as a type of woman such
as he had longed for through many years, endowing her with a beauty
which represented all the virtues. His first letters, although
dignified and reserved, nevertheless revealed the fact that he was
seeking for some woman in whom he could confide, and very soon he began
to pour out his heart freely. It is in this collection of letters,
which extend from January, 1833, down to 1847, that we must search for
the true details of his life, rather than in any of those collections
of doubtful anecdotes, which show it only in the distorted form of
caricature, and only too often have no foundation of truth.
Nevertheless it is necessary to read them with a certain amount of
critical reservation, for he often shows himself in them in a false