ensured.

Balzac was evidently pardoned, for he not only dedicated _Seraphita_
to her, as has been shown, but arrived in Vienna on May 16, 1835, to
visit her, bringing with him this manuscript. His stay was rather
short, lasting only to June 4. While there, he was quite busy, working
on _Le Lys dans la Vallee_, and declined many invitations. To get his
twelve hours of work, he had to retire at nine o'clock in order to
rise at three; this monastic rule dominated everything. He yielded
something of his stern observance to Madame Hanska by giving himself
three hours more freedom than in Paris, where he retired at six.

Soon after his return from Vienna, the novelist was informed that a
package from Vienna was held for him with thirty-six francs due.
Having, of course, no money, he sent his servant in a cab for the
package, telling him where he could secure the money and, dead or
alive, to bring the package. After spending four hours in an agony of
anticipation, wondering what Madame Hanska could be sending him, his
messenger arrived with a copy of _Pere Goriot_ which he had given her
in Vienna with the request that she give it to some one to whom it
might afford pleasure.

It will be remembered that while in Vienna, Balzac's financial strain
became such that his sister Laure pawned his silver. He afterwards
admitted that the journey to Vienna was the greatest folly of his
life; it cost him five thousand francs and upset all his affairs. He
had other financial troubles also, but found time and means to consult
a somnambulist frequently as to his _Predilecta_, and regretted that
he did not have one or two soothsayers, so that he might know daily
about her. His superstition is seen early in their correspondence
where he considered it a good omen that Madame Hanska had sent him the
_Imitation de Jesus-Christ_ while he was working on _Le Medecin de
Campagne_. Again and again he insisted that she tell him when any of
her family were ill, feeling that he could cure at a distance those
whom he loved; or that she should send him a piece of cloth worn next
to her person, that he might present this to a clairvoyant.

After delving deeply into mysticism, and writing some books dealing
with it, the novelist writes his "Polar Star":

"I am sorry to see that you are reading the mystics: believe me,
this sort of reading is fatal to minds like yours; it is a poison;
it is an intoxicating narcotic. These books have a bad influence