LOVE IN A MASK
_or_ IMPRUDENCE _and_ HAPPINESS
_A Hitherto Unpublished Novel by_
HONORÉ DE BALZAC
_Translated by_ ALICE M. IVIMY
RAND McNALLY & COMPANY
CHICAGO NEW YORK
1911
A NOTE
Balzac, in gratitude to the Duchesse de Dino for her friendship and
unfailing kindness to him, one day presented her with the story of
"L'Amour Masque" (Love in a Mask) in his own handwriting. The duchess
was one of the few French aristocrats who in Balzac's time welcomed
untitled authors to their salons, and her library boasted many such
offerings from the literary men of her day. She placed Balzac's
unpublished book on her shelves by the side of similarly unpublished
poems by Alfred de Musset, and stories by Eugene Sue and others. The
Balzac manuscript was incased in a finely tooled binding of great
richness and beauty, bearing the _ex libris_ of the ducal family.
For more than half a century the manuscript remained where the duchess
had placed it. Then her son, M. Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, the
present Duc de Dino, made it a present to his friend, the learned
Lucien Aubanel. By him it was given to M. Gillequin, with the
suggestion that it be published, and it accordingly appeared in print
for the first time in March, 1911. The Duc de Dino, in a letter written
to M. Gillequin on this occasion, guaranteed the history of the volume
which for so long had been one of the treasured possessions of his
family.
THE PUBLISHERS.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I