Honore de Balzac 
Domestic Peace 

From the "Scenes of Private Life" section of Honore de Balzac’s great masterwork The Human Comedy, this novella is set at a grand ball at the height of the Napoleonic era. The usual suspects from the city’s aristocracy are joined by a newcomer — a mysterious, beautiful young woman whose eyes seem to bespeak an overwhelming sadness. Several of the men in attendance vie for her affections — and all of their lives are changed in the course of a single evening.