friend of George Sand and Chopin, who has already repeatedly been
mentioned in this book, was the wife of Manuel Marliani, Spanish Consul
in Paris, author, [FOOTNOTE: Especially notable among his political and
historical publications in Spanish and French is: "Histoire politique de
l'Espagne moderne suivie d'un apercu sur les finances." 2 vols. in 8vo
(Paris, 1840).] politician, and subsequently senator. Lenz says that
Madame Marliani was a Spanish countess and a fine lady; and George Sand
describes her as good-natured and active, endowed with a passionate head
and maternal heart, but destined to be unhappy because she wished to
make the reality of life yield to the ideal of her imagination and the
exigences of her sensibility.

Some excerpts from a letter written by George Sand on November 12, 1842,
to her friend Charles Duvernet, and a passage from Ma Vie will bring
scene and actors vividly before us:--

We also cultivate billiards; I have a pretty little table,
which I hire for twenty francs a month, in my salon, and
thanks to kind friendships we approach Nohant life as much as
is possible in this melancholy Paris. What makes things
country-like also is that I live in the same square as the
family Marliani, Chopin in the next pavilion, so that without
leaving this large well-lighted and sanded Court d'Orleans, we
run in the evening from one to another like good provincial
neighbours. We have even contrived to have only one pot
[marmite], and eat all together at Madame Marliani's, which is
more economical and by far more lively than taking one's meals
at home. It is a kind of phalanstery which amuses us, and
where mutual liberty is much better guaranteed than in that of
the Fourierists...

Solange is at a boarding-school, and comes out every Saturday
to Monday morning. Maurice has resumed the studio con furia,
and I, I have resumed Consuelo like a dog that is being
whipped; for I have idled on account of my removal and the
fitting up of my apartments...

Kind regards and shakes of the hand from Viardot, Chopin, and
my children.

The passge [sic: passage] from Ma Vie, which contains some
repetitions along with a few additional touches, runs as
follows:-- She [Madame Marliani] had fine apartments between the
two we [George Sand and Chopin] occupied. We had only a large
planted and sanded and always clean court to cross in order to
meet, sometimes, in her roo