them as soon as he had turned his
back, while each of them imagined that she had exclusively charmed him.
In short, Chopin was of a very impressionable nature: beauty and grace,
nay, even a mere smile, kindled his enthusiasm at first sight, and
an awkward word or equivocal glance was enough to disenchant him. But
although he was not at all exclusive in his own affections, he was so
in a high degree with regard to those which he demanded from others.
In illustration of how easily Chopin took a dislike to anyone, and how
little he measured what he accorded of his heart with what he exacted
from that of others, George Sand relates a story which she got from
himself. In order to avoid misrepresenting her, I shall translate her
own words:--

He had taken a great fancy to the granddaughter of a
celebrated master. He thought of asking her in marriage at
the same time that he entertained the idea of another
marriage in Poland--his loyalty being engaged nowhere, and
his fickle heart floating from one passion to the other. The
young Parisian received him very kindly, and all went as well
as could be till on going to visit her one day in company
with another musician, who was of more note in Paris than he
at that time, she offered a chair to this gentleman before
thinking of inviting Chopin to be seated. He never called on
her again, and forgot her immediately.

The same story was told me by other intimate friends of Chopin's, who
evidently believed in its genuineness; their version differed from that
of George Sand only in this, that there was no allusion to a lady-love
in Poland. Indeed, true as George Sand's observations are in the main,
we must make allowance for the novelist's habit of fashioning and
exaggerating, and the woman's endeavour to paint her dismissed and
aggrieved lover as black as possible. Chopin may have indulged in
innumerable amorous fancies, but the story of his life furnishes at
least one instance of his having loved faithfully as well as deeply.
Nor will it be denied that Chopin's love for Constantia Gladkowska was a
serious affair, whether the fatal end be attributable to him or her,
or both. And now I have to give an account of another love-affair which
deserves likewise the epithet "serious."

As a boy Chopin contracted a friendship with the brothers Wodzinski,
who were boarders at his father's establishment. With them he went
repeatedly to Sluzewo, the property of t