a thick
moustache like a Norman of the heroic ages. He was just such a man as
we can imagine the pirates in Duc Rollo's boats. This descendant of the
Vikings had been born in times of peace, and his sole occupation was to
endeavour to form harmonious phrases by avoiding assonances.

I do not think there have been two individuals more different from each
other than George Sand and Gustave Flaubert. He was an artist, and she
in many respects was _bourgeoise_. He saw all things at their worst;
she saw them better than they were. Flaubert wrote to her in surprise
as follows: "In spite of your large sphinx eyes, you have seen the world
through gold colour."

She loved the lower classes; he thought them detestable, and qualified
universal suffrage as "a disgrace to the human mind." She preached
concord, the union of classes, whilst he gave his opinion as follows:

"I believe that the poor hate the rich, and that the rich are afraid of
the poor. It will be like this eternally."

It was always thus. On every subject the opinion of the one was sure to
be the direct opposite of the opinion of the other. This was just what
had attracted them.

"I should not be interested in myself," George Sand said, "if I had the
honour of meeting myself." She was interested in Flaubert, as she had
divined that he was her antithesis.

"The man who is Just passing," says Fantasio, "is charming. There are
all sorts of ideas in his mind which would be quite new to me."

George Sand wanted to know something of these ideas which were new to
her. She admired Flaubert on account of all sorts of qualities which
she did not possess herself. She liked him, too, as she felt that he was
unhappy.

She went to see him during the summer of 1866. They visited the historic
streets and old parts of Rouen together. She was both charmed and
surprised. She could not believe her eyes, as she had never imagined
that all that existed, and so near Paris, too. She stayed in that house
at Croisset in which Flaubert's whole life was spent. It was a house
with wide windows and a view over the Seine. The hoarse, monotonous
sound of the chain towing the heavy boats along could be heard
distinctly within the rooms. Flaubert lived there with his mother and
niece. To George Sand everything there seemed to breathe of tranquillity
and comfort, but at the same time she brought away with her an
impression of sadness. She attributed this to the vicinity of the Seine,
coming