CHAPTER XXIV.

1839-1842.

Return of George sand and Chopin to Paris.—­George sand in the rue Pigalle.—­Chopin in the rue Tronchet:  Reminiscences of Brinley Richards and Moscheles.—­Soirees at Leo’s and st. Cloud.- -Chopin joins Madame sand in the rue Pigalle.—­Extracts from George Sand’s Correspondance; A letter of Madame Sand’s to Chopin; Balzac anecdotes.—­Madame sand and Chopin do not go to Nohant in 1840.—­Compositions of this period.—­About Chopin as A pianist.—­Letters written to Fontana in the summer and autumn of 1841.

Although Chopin and George Sand came to Paris towards the end of October, 1839, months passed before the latter got into the house which Fontana had taken for her.  This we learn from a letter written by her to her friend Gustave Papet, and dated Paris, January, 1840, wherein we read:—­

At last I am installed in the Rue Pigalle, 16, only since the last two days, after having fumed, raged, stormed, and sworn at the upholsterers, locksmith, &c., &c.  What a long, horrible, unbearable business it is to lodge one’s self here!

[Footnote:  In the letter, dated Paris, October, 1839, preceding, in the George Sand “Correspondance,” the one from which the above passage is extracted, occur the following words:  “Je suis enfin installee chez moi a Paris.”  Where this chez moi was, I do not know.]

How greatly the interiors of George Sand’s pavilions in the Rue Pigalle differed from those of Senor Gomez’s villa and the cells in the monastery of Valdemosa, may be gathered from Gutmann’s description of two of the apartments.

[Footnote:  I do not guarantee the correctness of all the following details, although I found them in a sketch of Gutmann’s life inspired by himself ("Der Lieblings-schuler Chopin’s”, No. 3 of “Schone Geister,” by Bernhard Stavenow, Bremen, 1879), and which he assured me was trustworthy.  The reasons of my scepticism are—­1, Gutmann’s imaginative memory and tendency to show himself off to advantage; 2, Stavenow’s love of fine writing and a good story; 3, innumerable misstatements that can be indisputably proved by documents.]