ice away from her. She
sent a friend on whom she could count to take her boy to Fontainebleau,
and then went herself to watch over him. In the mean time, Dudevant, not
finding his son at Nohant, took Solange away with him, in spite of the
child's tears and the resistance of the governess. George Sand gave
notice to the police, and, on discovering that her little daughter was
sequestered at Guillery, near Nerac, she went herself in a post-chaise
to the sub-prefect, a charming young man, who was no other than
Baron Haussmann. On hearing the story, he went himself with her, and,
accompanied by the lieutenant of the constabulary and the sheriff's
officer on horseback, laid siege to the house at Guillery in which the
young girl was imprisoned. Dudevant brought his daughter to the door
and handed her over to her mother, threatening at the same time to take
Maurice from her by legal authority. The husband and wife then separated
. . . delighted with each other, according to George Sand. They very
rarely met after this affair. Dudevant certainly did not impress people
very favourably. After the separation, when matters were being
finally settled, he put in a claim for fifteen pots of jam and an iron
frying-pan. All this seems very petty.

The first use George Sand made of the liberty granted to her by the law,
in 1836, was to start off with Maurice and Solange for Switzerland to
join her friends Franz Liszt and the Comtesse d'Agoult. George Sand had
made Liszt's acquaintance through Musset. Liszt gave music-lessons to
Alfred's sister, Herminie. He was born in 1811, so that he was seven
years younger than George Sand. He was twenty-three at the time he first
met her, and their friendship was always platonic. They had remarkable
affinities of nature. Liszt had first thought of becoming a priest.
His religious fervour was gradually transformed into an ardent love
of humanity. His early education had been neglected, and he now read
eagerly. He once asked Monsieur Cremieux, the advocate, to teach him
"the whole of French literature." On relating this to some one, Cremieux
remarked: "Great confusion seems to reign in this young man's mind." He
had been wildly excited during the movement of 1830, greatly influenced
by the Saint-Simon ideas, and was roused to enthusiasm by Lamennals,
who had just published the _Paroles d'un Croyant_. After reading
Leone Leoni, he became an admirer of George Sand. Leone Leoni is a
transposition of Manon