Madame Honore. When at last they arrived at Dresden
they were both utterly exhausted, while Balzac was extremely ill, and
felt ten years older than when he started. His sight was so bad that
he could not see the letters that he was tracing on the paper, and was
obliged to apologise to his correspondents for his extraordinary
hieroglyphics, while he told Madame Surville that the swollen
condition of his wife's hands still rendered it impossible for her to
write.

However, Madame Honore was well enough to amuse herself by visits to
the jewellers' shops, where she bought a magnificent pearl necklace, a
purchase of which Balzac evidently approved, as he remarked that it
was so beautiful that it would make a saint mad! On his part, he was
greeted on his arrival by a new vexation; as letters from Paris told
him of "Vautrin" being put on the stage without his permission, and,
as we have seen, he wrote with much indignation, to put a stop to this
infringement of his rights.

An interesting letter already referred to, which is now in the
possession of the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, is dated from
Frankfort, the travellers' next stopping-place. It is written to the
Countess Anna, and was begun by Balzac, and finished by his wife.
About Balzac's part of the letter there is not much to remark, except
that he was evidently very fond of his step-daughter, that he told her
how ill he was, and that the handwriting is the scrawl of a man who
could not see. His high spirits indeed have disappeared, but this
change of tone is easily accounted for by the state of his health. It
is Madame Honore's part of the letter which strikes the reader as
curiously inadequate. It is dated May 16th, only five days after
Balzac's letter from Dresden informing his family of his wife's
inability to hold a pen, and is perfectly written; so that her
rheumatic gout must have abated suddenly. She begins her letter by
commenting placidly on the sadness of seeing the sufferings of our
"poor dear friend," says she tries in vain to cheer him, and contrasts
regretfully the difference between her feelings during this journey,
and her happiness when she last visited the same places, with her
darling child at her side. The principal subject in her present rather
wearying life, is the wonderful pearl necklace, which she takes out of
its case conscientiously every day, that the air may preserve the
whiteness of the pearls. She states, indeed, that she does not