Chopin kept his intention of going with Madame Sand to Majorca secret from all but a privileged few.  According to Franchomme, he did not speak of it even to his friends.  There seem to have been only three exceptions—­Fontana, Matuszynski, and Grzymala, and in his letters to the first he repeatedly entreats his friend not to talk about him.  Nor does he seem to have been much more communicative after his return, for none of Chopin’s acquaintances whom I questioned was able to tell me whether the composer looked back on this migration with satisfaction or with regret; still less did they remember any remark made by him that would throw a more searching light on this period of his life.

Until recently the only sources of information bearing on Chopin’s stay in Majorca were George Sand’s “Un Hiver a Majorque” and “Histoire de ma Vie.”  But now we have also Chopin’s letters to Fontana (in the Polish edition of Karasowski’s “Chopin”) and George Sand’s “Correspondance,” which supplement and correct the two publications of the novelist.  Remembering the latter’s tendency to idealise everything, and her disinclination to descend to the prose of her subject, I shall make the letters the backbone of my narrative, and for the rest select my material cautiously.

Telling Chopin that she would stay some days at Perpignan if he were not there on her arrival, but would proceed without him if he failed to make his appearance within a certain time, Madame Sand set out with her two children and a maid in the month of November, 1838, for the south of France, and, travelling for travelling’s sake, visited Lyons, Avignon, Vaucluse, Nimes, and other places.  The distinguished financier and well-known Spanish statesman Mendizabal, their friend, who was going to Madrid, was to accompany Chopin to the Spanish frontier.  Madame Sand was not long left in doubt as to whether Chopin would realise his reve de voyage or not, for he put in his appearance at Perpignan the very next day after her arrival there.  Madame Sand to Madame Marliani, [footnote:  The wife of the Spanish politician and author, Manuel Marliani.  We shall hear more of her farther on.] November, 1838:- -

Chopin arrived at Perpignan last night, fresh as a rose, and rosy as a turnip; moreover, in good health, having stood his four nights of the mail-coach heroically.  As to ourselves, we travelled slowly, quietly, and surrounded at all stations by our friends, who overwhelmed us with kindness.

As the weather was fine and the sea calm Chopin did not suffer much on the passage from Port-Vendres to Barcelona.  At the latter town the party halted for a while-spending some busy days within its walls, and making an excursion into the country-and then took ship for Palma, the capital of Majorca and the Balearic Isles generally.  Again the voyagers were favoured by the elements.