or not, we may be sure that he
missed Paris and his accustomed Paris society.

"Of all the troubles I had not to endure but to contend against, the
sufferings of my malade ordinaire were not the least," says George
Sand. "Chopin always wished for Nohant, and never could bear it."
And, speaking of the later years, when the havoc made in Chopin's
constitution by the inroads of his malady showed itself more and more,
she remarks: "Nohant had become repugnant to him. His return in the
spring still filled him with ecstatic joy for a short time. But as soon
as he began to work everything round him assumed a gloomy aspect."

Before we peep into Chopin's room and watch him at work, let us see what
the chateau of Nohant and life there were like. "The railway through
the centre of France went in those days [August, 1846] no further
than Vierzon," [FOOTNOTE: The opening of the extension of the line to
Chateauroux was daily expected at that time.] writes Mr. Matthew Arnold
in an account of a visit paid by him to George Sand:--

From Vierzon to Chateauroux one travelled by an ordinary
diligence, from Chateauroux to La Chatre by a humbler
diligence, from La Chatre to Broussac by the humblest
diligence cf. all. At Broussac diligence ended, and PATACHE
began. Between Chateauroux and La Chatre, a mile or two before
reaching the latter place, the road passes by the village of
Nohant. The chateau of Nohant, in which Madame Sand lived, is
a plain house by the roadside, with a walled garden. Down in
the meadows not far off flows the Indre, bordered by trees.

The Chateau of Nohant is indeed, as Mr. Matthew Arnold says, a plain
house, only the roof with its irregularly distributed dormars and
chimney-stacks of various size giving to it a touch of picturesqueness.
On the other hand, the ground-floor, with its central door flanked
on each side by three windows, and the seven windowed story above,
impresses one with the sense of spaciousness.

Liszt, speaking of a three months' stay at Nohant made by himself and
his friend the Comtesse d'Agoult in the summer of 1837--i.e., before
the closer connection of George Sand and Chopin began--relates that the
hostess and her guests spent the days in reading good books, receiving
letters from absent friends, taking long walks on the banks of the
Indre, and in other equally simple occupations and amusements. In the
evenings they assembled on the terrace. There, where the light of