. It is very
evident from whom Balzac gets his information, and it is also evident
that the friendship between the two women has cooled down.

The cause of the coolness between them was George Sand's infatuation
for Chopin, whom she had known through Liszt and Madame d'Agoult. George
Sand wrote to Liszt from Nohant, in March, 1837: "Tell Chopin that I
hope he will come with you. Marie cannot live without him, and I adore
him." In April she wrote to Madame d'Agoult: "Tell Chopin that I idolize
him." We do not know whether Madame d'Agoult gave the message, but
she certainly replied: "Chopin coughs with infinite grace. He is an
irresolute man. The only thing about him that is permanent is his
cough." This is certainly very feminine in its ferociousness.

At the time when he came into George Sand's life, Chopin, the composer
and virtuoso, was the favourite of Parisian _salons_, the pianist in
vogue. He was born in 1810, so that he was then twenty-seven years
of age. His success was due, in the first place, to his merits as
an artist, and nowhere is an artist's success so great as in Paris.
Chopin's delicate style was admirably suited to the dimensions and to
the atmosphere of a _salon_.(25)

(25) As regards Chopin, I have consulted a biography by
Liszt, a study by M. Camille Bellaigue and the volume by M.
Elie Poiree in the _Collection des musiciens celebres_,
published by H. Laurens.

He confessed to Liszt that a crowd intimidated him, that he felt
suffocated by all the quick breathing and paralyzed by the inquisitive
eyes turned on him. "You were intended for all this," he adds, "as, if
you do not win over your public, you can at least overwhelm it."

Chopin was made much of then in society. He was fragile and delicate,
and had always been watched over and cared for. He had grown up in a
peaceful, united family, in one of those simple homes in which all
the details of everyday life become less prosaic, thanks to an innate
distinction of sentiment and to religious habits. Prince Radziwill had
watched over Chopin's education. He had been received when quite young
in the most aristocratic circles, and "the most celebrated beauties had
smiled on him as a youth." Social life, then, and feminine influence had
thus helped to make him ultra refined. It was very evident to every one
who met him that he was a well-bred man, and this is quickly observed,
even with pianists. On arriving he made a good impress