CHAPTER XV.
_Giant Strides of Commerce_ Giant Strides of Commerce--The Reasoning of M.Honore de Balzac--The Aristocracy of Trade--The Story of a New York Shop--When Fifth Avenue Began to Rival Bond Street and the Rue de la Paix--Shopping in 1901--Publishing Houses at the Beginning of the Century--Prices of Real Estate--Some Great Houses of the Present.
Once upon a time, so the story goes, a French publisher, planning an elaborate volume on the streets of Paris, went to Honore de Balzac, then at the height of his fame, to ask him to contribute the chapter on a particular thoroughfare--let us say, the Rue Une Telle, or the Avenue Quelque-Chose.

The idea appealed to the fancy of the great man, and matters were going along swimmingly, until it came to the point of settling upon a price to be paid the novelist for his labour.

"And now, _cher maitre,_ we must consider the painful triviality of emolument." Without hesitation Balzac mentioned a figure that was simply staggering.
It was a minute or two before the astonished publisher could gather his wits together sufficiently to protest and bargain.

But Balzac was not to be moved.

He explained that the sum named was not merely for the work but also for expenses that would be unavoidable in carrying on the work.