He also talked
discreetly of his heart, and without encouraging him, she allowed him
to understand that she listened to him without displeasure. His
relations with Mme. de Berny had been tinged with a sort of bitterness,
due to the disparity in their ages, and his happiness had never been
complete. These relations were now about to come to a close, yet even
after the rupture they were destined to remain like a single soul,
united by a profound and lasting affection, beyond the reach of any
severance. Be that as it may, Balzac at this period was audaciously
planning another conquest, and a dazzling one, more brilliant than his
most ambitious hopes could have wished. So the pretty game continued,
half in sport and half in earnest.
Whether it was due solely to the influence of the duchess or whether a
certain amount of calculation entered in, since literary success is
judged by the money profits and the expenditures and fashionable
appearance of the writer, or whether he also obeyed his own fondness
for a broad and sumptuous scale of living, no one knows; probably
something of all three entered in; but the fact remains that after he
knew Mme.
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