A search in the Concordance of Great Books (url: http://www.concordance.com/cgi-bin/letsr.pl )came up with this from Balzac's "Message"

Nevertheless, I had to assuage the grief of an old woman-
servant, who staggered back at the tidings of her young master's
death, and sank half-dead into a chair when she saw the blood-
stained key. But I had another and more dreadful sorrow to think
of, the sorrow of a woman who had lost her last love; so I left
the old woman to her prosopopeia, and carried off the precious
correspondence, carefully sealed by my friend of the day.


Could anyone elucidate how this relates to the definition given?

Bingley

Bingley