curs in them several times. On April 2, 1837,
Chopin wrote to Madame Wodzinska as follows:--

I take advantage of Madame Nakwaska's permission and enclose
a few words. I expect news from Anthony's own hand, and shall
send you a letter even more full of details than the one
which contained Vincent's enclosure. I beg of you to keep
your mind easy about him. As yet all are in the town. I am
not in possession of any details, because the correspondents
only give accounts of themselves. My letter of the same date
must certainly be in Sluzewo; and, as far as is possible, it
will set your mind at rest with regard to this Spaniard who
must, must write me a few words. I am not going to use many
words in expressing the sorrow I felt on learning the news of
your mother's death--not for her sake whom I did not know,
but for your sake whom I do know. (This is a matter of
course!) I have to confess, Madam, that I have had an attack
like the one I had in Marienbad; I sit before Miss Maria's
book, and were I to sit a hundred years I should be unable to
write anything in it. For there are days when I am out of
sorts. To-day I would prefer being in Sluzewo to writing to
Sluzewo. Then would I tell you more than I have now written.
My respects to Mr. Wodzinski and my kind regards to Miss
Maria, Casimir, Theresa, and Felix.

The object of another letter, dated May 14, 1837, is likewise to give
news of Anthony Wodzinski, who was fighting in Spain. Miss Maria is
mentioned in the P.S. and urged to write a few words to her brother.

After a careful weighing of the evidence before us, it appears to me
that--notwithstanding the novelistic tricking-out of Les trois Romans de
Frederic Chopin--we cannot but accept as the true account the author's
statement as to Chopin's proposal of marriage and Miss Wodzinska's
rejection at Marienbad in 1836. The testimony of a relation with direct
information from one of the two chief actors in the drama deserves more
credit than that of a stranger with, at best, second-hand information;
unless we prefer to believe that the lady misrepresented the facts
in order to show herself to the world in a more dignified and amiable
character than that of a jilt. The letters can hardly be quoted in
support of the engagement, for the rejection would still admit of the
continuation of the old friendship, and their tone does not indicate the
greater intimacy of a