He said it was not so with her early friends; that she has
chosen to buy a chateau in the region where she passed her childhood,
and that the people there love and have always loved her dearly. She
is now at the chateau, and, I begin to fear, will not come to town
before I go. Since I came, I have read two charming stories recently
written by her. Another longer one she has just sold to _La Presse_
for fifteen thousand francs. She does not receive nearly as much
for her writings as Balzac, Dumas, or Sue. She has a much greater
influence than they, but a less circulation.
She stays at the chateau, because the poor people there were suffering
so much, and she could help them. She has subscribed _twenty thousand
francs_ for their relief, in the scarcity of the winter. It is a great
deal to earn by one's pen: a novel of several volumes sold for only
fifteen thousand francs, as I mentioned before. * * *
At last, however, she came; and I went to see her at her house,
Place d'Orleans. I found it a handsome modern residence. She had not
answered my letter, written about a week before, and I felt a little
anxious lest she should not receive me; for she is too much the mark
of impertinent curiosity, as well as too busy, to be easily accessible
to strangers.
Pages:
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265