After a careful weighing of the evidence before us, it appears to me that—­notwithstanding the novelistic tricking-out of Les trois Romans de Frederic Chopin—­we cannot but accept as the true account the author’s statement as to Chopin’s proposal of marriage and Miss Wodzinska’s rejection at Marienbad in 1836.  The testimony of a relation with direct information from one of the two chief actors in the drama deserves more credit than that of a stranger with, at best, second-hand information; unless we prefer to believe that the lady misrepresented the facts in order to show herself to the world in a more dignified and amiable character than that of a jilt.  The letters can hardly be quoted in support of the engagement, for the rejection would still admit of the continuation of the old friendship, and their tone does not indicate the greater intimacy of a closer relationship.

Subsequent to his stay at Marienbad Chopin again visited Leipzig.  But the promises which Mendelssohn and Chopin had so solemnly made to each other in the preceding year had not been kept; the latter did not go in the course of the winter to Leipzig, and if he had gone, the former could not have performed a new symphony of his in honour of the guest.  Several passages in letters written by Schumann in the early part of 1836 show, however, that Chopin was not forgotten by his Leipzig friends, with whom he seems to have been in correspondence.  On March 8, 1836, Schumann wrote to Moscheles:—­

Mendelssohn sends you his hearty greetings.  He has finished his oratorio, and will conduct it himself at the Dusseldorf Musical Festival.  Perhaps I shall go there too, perhaps also Chopin, to whom we shall write about it.

The first performance of Mendelssohn’s St. Paul took place at Dusseldorf on May 22, and was a great success.  But neither Schumann nor Chopin was there.  The latter was, no doubt, already planning his excursion to Marienbad, and could not allow himself the luxury of two holidays within so short a time.

Here is another scrap from a letter of Schumann’s, dated August 28, 1836, and addressed to his brother Edward and his sister-in-law Theresa:—­

I have just written to Chopin, who is said to be in Marienbad, in order to learn whether he is really there.  In any case, I should visit you again in autumn.  But if Chopin answers my letter at once, I shall start sooner, and go to Marienbad by way of Carlsbad.  Theresa, what do you think! you must come with me!  Read first Chopin’s answer, and then we will fully discuss the rest.

Chopin either had left or was about to leave Marienbad when he received Schumann’s letter.  Had he received it sooner, his answer would not have been very encouraging.  For in his circumstances he could not but have felt even the most highly-esteemed confrere, the most charming of companions, in the way.[Footnote:  Mendelscohn’s sister, Rebecka Dirichlet, found him completely absorbed in his Polish Countess. (See The Mendelssohn Family, Vol.  II, p. 15.)] But although the two musicians did not meet at Marienbad, they saw each other at Leipzig.  How much one of them enjoyed the visit may be seen in the following extract from a letter which Schumann wrote to Heinrich Dorn on September 14, 1836:—­