over again; too late to learn to tell us what we long to hear; to be superior to us at the right moment, or to worship our pettiness when it pleases us to be petty.  We are not so silly as you think us.  When we love we place the man of our choice above all else.  Whatever shakes our faith in our supremacy shakes our love.  In flattering us men flatter themselves.  If you intend to remain in society, to enjoy an intercourse with women, you must carefully conceal from them all that you have told me; they will not be willing to sow the flowers of their love upon the rocks or lavish their caresses to soothe a sickened spirit.  Women will discover the barrenness of your heart and you will be ever more and more unhappy.  Few among them would be frank enough to tell you what I have told you, or sufficiently good-natured to leave you without rancor, offering their friendship, like the woman who now subscribes herself

Your devoted friend,

Natalie de Manerville.

ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Birotteau, Abbe Francois
  Cesar Birotteau
  The Vicar of Tours

Blamont-Chauvry, Princesse de
  The Thirteen
  Madame Firmiani

Brandon, Lady Marie Augusta
  The Member for Arcis
  La Grenadiere

Chessel, Madame de
  The Government Clerks

Dudley, Lord
  The Thirteen
  A Man of Business
  Another Study of Woman
  A Daughter of Eve

Dudley, Lady Arabella
  The Ball at Sceaux
  The Magic Skin
  The Secrets of a Princess
  A Daughter of Eve
  Letters of Two Brides

Givry
  Letters of Two Brides
  Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Lenoncourt, Duc de
  Cesar Birotteau
  Jealousies of a Country Town
  The Gondreville Mystery
  Beatrix

Lenoncourt-Givry, Duchesse de
  Letters of Two Brides
  Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Listomere, Marquis de
  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
  A Study of Woman

Listomere, Marquise de
  Lost Illusions
  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
  A Study of Woman
  A Daughter of Eve

Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier
  The Chouans
  The Seamy Side of History
  The Gondreville Mystery
  Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
  The Ball at Sceaux
  Colonel Chabert
  The Government Clerks

Manerville, Comtesse Paul de
  A Marriage Settlement
  A Daughter of Eve

Marsay, Henri de
  The Thirteen
  The Unconscious Humorists
  Another Study of Woman
  Father Goriot
  Jealousies of a Country Town
  Ursule Mirouet
  A Marriage Settlement
  Lost Illusions
  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
  Letters of Two Brides
  The Ball at Sceaux
  Modeste Mignon
  The Secrets of a Princess
  The Gondreville Mystery
  A Daughter of Eve