n,
that she said to him--"I wish what thou wishest, because we
have come to that point where the fault to be committed is
the inevitable reparation of a series of committed faults. I
have been guilty towards thee in not having the egotistical
prudence to shun thee; it is better that I should be guilty
towards myself in remaining thy companion and consolation at
the expense of my peace and of my pride."..."Listen," she
added, holding his hand in both of hers with all the strength
she possessed, "never draw back this hand from me, and,
whatever happens, preserve so much honour and courage as not
to forget that before being thy mistress I was thy
FRIEND....I ask of thee only, if thou growest weary of my
Jove as thou now art of my friendship, to recollect that it
was not a moment of delirium that threw me into thy arms, but
a sudden impulse of my heart, and a more tender and more
lasting feeling than the intoxication of voluptuousness."

I shall not continue the quotation, the discussion becomes too
nauseous. One cannot help sympathising with Alfred de Musset's impatient
interruption of George Sand's unctuous lecturing reported in his
brother's book--"My dear, you speak so often of chastity that it becomes
indecent." Or this other interruption reported by Louise Colet:--

When one gives the world what the world calls the scandale of
love, one must have at least the courage of one's passion. In
this respect the women of the eighteenth century are better
than you: they did not subtilise love in metaphysics [elles
n'alambiquaient pas l'amour dans la metaphysique].

It is hardly necessary to say that George Sand had much intercourse with
men of intellect. Several litterateurs of some distinction have already
been mentioned. Sainte-Beuve and Balzac were two of the earliest of her
literary friends, among whom she numbered also Heine. With Lamartine
and other cultivators of the belles-lettres she was likewise acquainted.
Three of her friends, men of an altogether different type and calibre,
have, however, a greater claim on the attention of the student of
George Sand's personality than any of those just named, because
their speculations and teachings gave powerful impulses to her mind,
determined the direction of her thoughts, and widened the sphere of her
intellectual activity. The influences of these three men--the advocate
Michel of Bourges, an earnest politicia