His father thought it so vulgar of his son to write a book in Flemish that he turned him out of doors. Soon people of standing, amongst them the painter Wappers, showed interest in the unfortunate young man. Wappers even gave him a suit of clothes and eventually presented him to King Leopold. Leopold ordered the Wonderjaar to be added to the libraries of every Belgian school. It was with the patronage of Leopold I that Conscience published his second book, "Fantasy", in the same year 1837.