s death? But perhaps in the end
of 1831 he had already learnt what was going to happen in the following
year. The sad fact has to be told: inconstant Constantia Gladkowska
married a merchant of the name of Joseph Grabowski, at Warsaw, in
1832; this at least is the information given in Sowinski's biographical
dictionary Les musiciens polonais et slaves.[FOOTNOTE: According to
Count Wodzinski she married a country gentleman, and subsequently became
blind.] As the circumstances of the case and the motives of the parties
are unknown to me, and as a biographer ought not to take the same
liberties as a novelist, I shall neither expatiate on the fickleness
and mercenariness of woman, nor attempt to describe the feelings of our
unfortunate hero robbed of his ideal, but leave the reader to make his
own reflections and draw his own moral.

On August 2, 1832, Chopin wrote a letter to Hiller, who had gone in
the spring of the year to Germany. What the young Pole thought of this
German brother-artist may be gathered from some remarks of his in the
letter to Titus Woyciechowski dated December 16, 1831:--

The concert of the good Hiller, who is a pupil of Hummel and
a youth of great talent, came off very successfully the day
before yesterday. A symphony of his was received with much
applause. He has taken Beethoven for his model, and his work
is full of poesy and inspiration.

Since then the two had become more intimate, seeing each other almost
every day, Chopin, as Osborne relates, being always in good spirits when
Hiller was with him. The bearer of the said letter was Mr. Johns, to
whom the five Mazurkas, Op. 7, are dedicated, and whom Chopin introduced
to Hiller as "a distinguished amateur of New Orleans." After warmly
recommending this gentleman, he excuses himself for not having
acknowledged the receipt of his friend's letter, which procured him the
pleasure of Paul Mendelssohn's acquaintance, and then proceeds:--

Your trios, my dear friend, have been finished for a long
time, and, true to my character of a glutton, I have gulped
down your manuscripts into my repertoire. Your concerto will
be performed this month by Adam's pupils at the examination
of the Conservatoire. Mdlle. Lyon plays it very well. La
Tentation, an opera-ballet by Halevy and Gide, has not
tempted any one of good taste, because it has just as little
interest as your German Diet harmony with the spirit of the
age.