"(3) My aunt Pauline was married to a Serbian banker settled in Odessa, a very rich man called Jean Riznitsch, but he was /neither a General nor a Baron/. Her second daughter, Alexandrine, married Mr. Ciechanowiecki who also never could boast of a title, and whose father had never been /Minister de l'Interieur en Pologne/.
"(4) My aunt Eve was neither married in 1818 nor in 1822 to Mr. Hanski, but in 1820. It was not because of /revers de fortune/ that she was married to him, but it was the custom in Polish noble families to try to settle girls as richly as possible. Later on, my grandfather lost a great deal of money, but this circumstance, which occurred after my aunt's marriage, had nothing to do with it. My grandfather,—this by the way,—was a very remarkable man, a personal friend of Voltaire. You will find interesting details about him in an amusing book published by Ernest Daudet, called /La Correspondence du Comte Valentin Esterhazy/, in the first volume, where among other things is described the birth of my aunt Helene, whose personality interests you so much, a birth which nearly killed her mother. Besides Helene, my grandparents had still another daughter who also died unmarried, at seventeen years of age, and who, judging by her picture, must have been a wonder of beauty; also a son Stanislas, who was killed accidentally by a fall from his horse in 1826.
"(5) My uncle Ernest was not the second son of his parents, but the youngest in the whole family."
It is interesting to note that Balzac wished to have his works advertised in newspapers circulating in foreign countries and wrote his publisher to advertise in the /Gazette/ and the /Quotidienne/, as they were the only papers admitted into Russia, Italy, etc. He repeated this request some months later, by which time he not only knew that /l'Etrangere/ read the /Quotidienne/, but he had become interested in her.
As has been mentioned, it is a strange coincidence that this first letter from /l'Etrangere/ arrived on the very day that the novelist wrote accepting the invitation of the Duchesse de Castries. Balzac doubtless little dreamed that this was the beginning of a correspondence which was destined to change the whole current of his life.
Many versions have been given as to what this letter contained, some saying that Madame Hanska had been reading the /Peau de Chagrin/, others, the /Physiologie du Mariage/, and others, the /Maison du Chat- qui-pelote/, but if the letter no longer exists how is one to prove what it contained? Yet it must have impressed Balzac, for he wanted to dedicate to her the fourth volume of the /Scenes de la Vie privee/ in placing her seal and "Diis ignotis 28 fevrier 1832" at the head of /l'Expiation/, the last chapter of /La Femme de trente Ans/, which he was writing when her letter arrived, but Madame de Berny objected, so he saved the only copy of that dedication and wished Madame Hanska to keep it as a souvenir, and as an expression of his thanks.
According to Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, Balzac showed one of Madame Hanska's letters to Madame Carraud, and she answered it for him; but with his usual skill in answering severe cross-examinations, he replies:
"You have asked me with distrust to give an explanation of my two handwritings; but I have as many handwritings as there are days in the year, without being on that account the least in the world versatile. This mobility comes from an imagination which can conceive all and remain vague, like glass which is soiled by none of its reflections. The glass is in my brain."
In this same letter, which is the second given, Balzac writes: ". . . I am galloping towards Poland, and rereading all your letters,—I have but three of them, . . ." If this last statement be true, the answer to Spoelberch de Lovenjoul's question, "How many letters did Balzac receive thus?" is not difficult.
Miss Wormeley seems to be correct in saying that this second letter is inconsistent with the preceding one dated also in January, 1833, showing an arbitrary system of dating. There are others which are inconsistent, if not impossible, but if Spoelberch de Lovenjoul after the death of Madame Honore de Balzac found these letters scattered about in various places, as he states, it is quite possible that contents as well as dates are confused.[*]