„Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan” is a comic tale about a society woman, a Princess and a Duchess, who attempts to recycle her slightly seedy past by pursuing a minor literary figure of great probity and innocence. The Princess de Cadignan, aka the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, has consorted with such notable Balzac rakes as Henri de Marsay, Maxime de Trailles, and Eugene de Rastignac, but is disconcerted to find herself being stalked by an unknown but comely young man. The Princesse de Cadignan, nee Diane d’Uxelles appears in a number of stories of the „Human Comedy”. Her husband left France with the Royal Family after the disasters of the Revolution of July 1830, but the Princess decided to remain in Paris. With much of the great family’s fortune unavailable for her use, she determined to live in complete retirement, forgotten by society.