An inscription engraved on a broken column in the cemetery at Montmartre states that Madame de Sommervieux died at the age of twenty-seven. In the simple words of this epitaph one of the timid creature’s friends can read the last scene of a tragedy. Every year, on the second of November, the solemn day of the dead, he never passes this youthful monument without wondering whether it does not need a stronger woman than Augustine to endure the violent embrace of genius? “The humble and modest flowers that bloom in the valley,” he reflects, “perish perhaps when they are transplanted too near the skies, to the region where storms gather and the sun is scorching.” ADDENDUM The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. Aiglemont, General, Marquis Victor d’ The Firm of Nucingen A Woman of Thirty Birotteau, Cesar Cesar Birotteau A Bachelor’s Establishment Camusot A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Bachelor’s Establishment Cousin Pons The Muse of the Department Cesar Birotteau Cardot, Jean-Jerome-Severin A Start in Life Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Bachelor’s Establishment Cesar Birotteau Carigliano, Marechal, Duc de Father Goriot Sarrasine Carigliano, Duchesse de A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Peasantry The Member for Arcis Guillaume Cesar Birotteau Lebas, Joseph Cesar Birotteau Cousin Betty Lebas, Madame Joseph (Virginie) Cesar Birotteau Cousin Betty Lourdois Cesar Birotteau Rabourdin, Xavier The Government Clerks Cesar Birotteau The Middle Classes Roguin, Madame Cesar Birotteau Pierrette A Second Home A Daughter of Eve Sommervieux, Theodore de The Government Clerks Modeste Mignon Sommervieux, Madame Theodore de (Augustine) At the Sign of the Cat and Racket Cesar Birotteau End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of At the Sign of the Cat and Racket, by Honore de Balzac