„It was probably in the home of the Duchesse de Castries that Balzac conceived some of his ideas of the aristocracy of the exclusive Faubourg Saint-Germain, a picture of which he has drawn in this story of which she is the heroine. Her influence is seen also in the characters so minutely drawn of the heartless Parisienne, no longer young, but seductive, refined and aristocratic, though deceptive and perfidious.“ – Juanita Helm Floyd: Women in the life of Balzac. Holt, New York NY 1921 (htm).
