the lamps cast fantastic shadows on the neighbouring trees, they
sat listening to the murmuring of the river and the warbling of the
nightingales, and breathing in the sweet perfume of the lime-trees
and the stronger scent of the larches till the Countess would exclaim:
"There you are again dreaming, you incorrigible artists! Do you not know
that the hour for working has come?" And then George Sand would go
and write at the book on which she was engaged, and Liszt would betake
himself to the old scores which he was studying with a view to discover
some of the great masters' secrets. [FOOTNOTE: Liszt. "Essays and
Reisebriefe eines Baccalaureus der Tonkunst." Vol. II., pp. 146 and 147
of the collected works.]

Thus was Nohant in quiet days. But the days at Nohant were by no means
always quiet. For George Sand was most hospitable, kept indeed literally
open house for her friends, and did so regardless of credit and debit.
The following passage from a letter written by her in 1840 from Paris to
her half-brother Hippolyte Chatiron gives us a good idea of the state of
matters:--

If you will guarantee my being able to pass the summer at Nohant
for 4,000 francs, I will go. But I have never been there without
spending 1,500 francs per month, and as I do not spend here the
half of this, it is neither the love of work, nor that of
spending, nor that of GLORY, which makes me stay. I do not know
whether I have been pillaged; but I am at a loss how to avoid it
with my nonchalance, in so vast a house, and so easy a kind of
life as that of Nohant. Here I can see clearly; everything is
done under my eyes as I understand and wish it. At Nohant--let
this remain between us--you know that before I am up a dozen
people have often made themselves at home in the house. What can
I do? Were I to pose as a good manager [econome] they would
accuse me of stinginess; were I to let things go on, I should not
be able to provide for them. Try if you can find a remedy for
this.

In George Sand's letters many glimpses may be caught of the life at
Nohant. To some of them I have already drawn the reader's attention in
preceding chapters; now I shall point out a few more.

George Sand to Madame Marliani; Nohant, August 13, 1841:--

I have had all my nights absorbed by work and fatigue. I have
passed all my days with Pauline [Viardot] in walking, playing
at billiards, and all this makes me so entirely go out of