, for she
knows well how to love and prize its beauty; but she herself is
quite another sort of person. She needs no defence, but only to be
understood, for she has bravely acted out her nature, and always with
good intentions. She might have loved one man permanently, if she
could have found one contemporary with her who could interest and
command her throughout her range; but there was hardly a possibility
of that, for such a person. Thus she has naturally changed the
objects of her affection, and several times. Also, there may have been
something of the Bacchante in her life, and of the love of night and
storm, and the free raptures amid which roamed on the mountain-tops
the followers of Cybele, the great goddess, the great mother. But she
was never coarse, never gross, and I am sure her generous heart has
not failed to draw some rich drops from every kind of wine-press. When
she has done with an intimacy, she likes to break it off suddenly, and
this has happened often, both with men and women. Many calumnies upon
her are traceable to this cause.

I forgot to mention, that, while talking, she _does_ smoke all the
time her little cigarette. This is now a common practice among ladies
abroad, but I believe originated with her.

For the rest, she holds her place in the literary and social world
of France like a man, and seems full of energy and courage in it. I
suppose she has suffered much, but she has also enjoyed and done much,
and her expression is one of calmness and happiness. I was sorry to
see her _exploitant_ her talent so carelessly. She does too much, and
this cannot last forever; but "Teverino" and the "Mare au Diable,"
which she has lately published, are as original, as masterly in truth,
and as free in invention, as anything she has done.

Afterwards I saw Chopin, not with her, although he lives with her, and
has for the last twelve years. I went to see him in his room with one
of his friends. He is always ill, and as frail as a snow-drop, but an
exquisite genius. He played to me, and I liked his talking scarcely
less. Madame S. loved Liszt before him; she has thus been intimate
with the two opposite sides of the musical world. Mickiewicz says,
"Chopin talks with spirit, and gives us the Ariel view of the
universe. Liszt is the eloquent _tribune_ to the world of men, a
little vulgar and showy certainly, but I like the tribune best." It is
said here, that Madame S. has long had only a friendship for Chopi