" Of all persons Sand was pre-elected to give to the world a
true, a sympathetic picture of her friend. She understood him,
but she had not the power of putting him between the coversof a
book. If Flaubert, or better still, Pierre Loti, could have known
Chopin so intimately we should possess a memoir in which every
vibration of emotion would be recorded, every shade noted, and
all pinned with the precise adjective, the phrase exquisite.
III. ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND PERE LA CHAISE.
The remaining years of Chopin's life were lonely. His father died
in 1844 of chest and heart complaint, his sister Emilia died of
consumption--ill-omens these!--and shortly after, John
Matuszynski died. Titus Woyciechowski was in far-off Poland on
his estates and Chopin had but Grzymala and Fontana to confide
in; they being Polish he preferred them, although he was
diplomatic enough not to let others see this. Both Franchomme and
Gutmann whispered to Niecks at different times that each was the
particular soul, the alter ego, of Chopin. He appeared to give
himself to his friends but it was usually surface affection.
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