The Duchesse De Langeais, Book Two of 'The Thirteen'

Book II of Balzac's 'The Thirteen'
". . . I know there was a time when I used to like it best of all, and thought not merely Eugenie Grandet, but Le Pere Goriot (though not the Peau de Chagrin), dull in comparison. Some attention, however, must be paid to two remarkable characters, on whom it is quite clear that Balzac expended a great deal of pains, and one of whom he seems to have 'caressed,' as the French say, with a curious admixture of dislike and admiration. . . ."
-- George Saintsbury