acquaintance.  On his return from this trip to Corsica and Sardinia, on which he had endured much physical suffering, and had spent much money to no financial avail, he stopped again at Milan to look after the interests of the Viscontis.  In the Salon of the same year (1837), the famous portrait by Boulanger was displayed.  About the same time, together with Theophile Gautier, Leon Gozlan, Jules Sandeau and others, he organized an association called the Cheval Rouge for mutual advertisement.

Balzac now bought a piece of land at Ville d’Avray (Sevres), and had a house built, Les Jardies, which afforded much amusement to the Parisians.  He went there to reside in 1838 while the walls were still damp.  Here he formed another scheme for becoming rich, this time in the belief that he would be successful in raising pineapples at his new home. Les Jardies was a three-story house.  The principal stairway was on the outside, because an exterior staircase would not interfere with the symmetrical arrangement of the interior.  The garden walls, not long after completion, fell down as they had no foundations, and Balzac sadly exclaimed over their giving way!  After a brief residence here of about two years, he fled from his creditors and concealed his identity under the name of his housekeeper, Madame de Brugnolle, in a mysterious little house, No. 19, rue Basse, Passy.

Aside from his novels, which were appearing at a most rapid rate, Balzac wrote many plays, but they all met with failure for various reasons.  Other literary activities, such as his brief directorship of the Revue Parisienne, numerous articles and short stories, and his cooperation in the Societe des Gens-de-Lettres, which was organized to protect the rights of authors and publishers, occupied much of his precious time; in addition, he had his unremitting financial struggles.

This “child-man,” however, with his imagination, optimism, belief in magnetism and clairvoyance, and great steadfastness of character, kept on hoping.  Not discouraged by his ever unsuccessful schemes for becoming a millionaire, he conceived the project of digging for hidden treasures, and later thought of making a fortune by transporting to France oaks grown in distant Russia.

In the spring of 1842 Balzac’s novels were collected for the first time under the name of the Comedie humaine.  This was shortly after one of the most important events of his life had occurred, when on January 5 he received a letter from Madame Hanska telling of the death of her husband the previous November.  Balzac wished to leave for Russia immediately, but Madame Hanska’s permission was not forthcoming, and it was not until July of 1843 that Balzac arrived at St. Petersburg to visit his “Polar Star.”