g in the latter part of
1836 some months in Switzerland with Liszt and the Comtesse d'Agoult,
she meets them again at Paris in the December of the same year:--

At the Hotel de France, where Madame d'Agoult had persuaded me
to take quarters near her, the conditions of existence were
charming for a few days. She received many litterateurs,
artists, and some clever men of fashion. It was at Madame
d'Agoult's, or through her, that I made the acquaintance of
Eugene Sue, Baron d'Eckstein, Chopin, Mickiewicz, Nourrit,
Victor Schoelcher, &c. My friends became also hers. Through me
she got acquainted with M. Lamennais, Pierre-Leroux, Henri
Heine, &c. Her salon, improvised in an inn, was therefore a
reunion d'elite over which she presided with exquisite grace,
and where she found herself the equal of all the eminent
specialists by reason of the extent of her mind and the
variety of her faculties, which were at once poetic and
serious. Admirable music was performed there, and in the
intervals one could instruct one's self by listening to the
conversation.

To reconcile Liszt's account with George Sand's remark that Chopin was
one of those whose acquaintance she made at Madame d'Agoult's or through
her, we have only to remember the intimate relation in which Liszt stood
to this lady (subsequently known in literature under the nom de plume of
Daniel Stern), who had left her husband, the Comte d'Agoult, in 1835.

And now at last we can step again from the treacherous quicksand of
reminiscences on the terra firma of documents. The following extracts
from some letters of George Sand's throw light on her relation to Chopin
in the early part of 1837:--

Nohant, March 28, 1837.

[To Franz Liszt.]...Come and see us as soon as possible. Love,
esteem, and friendship claim you at Nohant. Love (Marie
[FOOTNOTE: The Comtesse d'Agoult.]) is some what ailing,
esteem (Maurice and Pelletan [FOOTNOTE: The former, George
Sand's son; the latter, Eugene Pelletan, Maurice's tutor.])
pretty well, and friendship (myself) obese and in excellent
health.

Marie told me that there was some hope of Chopin. Tell Chopin
that I beg of him to accompany you; that Marie cannot live
without him, and that I adore him.

I shall write to Grzymala personally in order to induce him
also, if I can, to come and see us. I should like to be able
to surround Marie with all her friends, in order that she