“What does she do?”
“She’s a married woman who has left her husband for a lover who very soon deserts her. Her husband tries in vain to love other women, but his wife holds his affections and he makes every effort to win her back. The story is mainly an account of these efforts.”
“Does he succeed?”
“Yes. Honorine goes back to her husband, but it cost her her life. She cannot live with a man she doesn’t love. That is the point of the story.”
“I wonder why that should remind you of me?”
“There is something delicate, rare, and mystical about you both. But I can’t say I place Honorine very high among Balzac’s works. There are beautiful touches in it, but I think he failed to realise the type. You are more virile, more real to me than Honorine. No; on the whole, Balzac has not done you. He
