had learnt that another object must be given to the forces of sympathy
of a generous heart, and that such an object may be the service of
humanity, devotion to an idea.

This was a turn in the road, and led the writer on to leave the personal
style for the impersonal style.

There was another service, too, which Michel had rendered to George
Sand. He had pleaded for her in her petition for separation from her
husband, and she had won her case.

Ever since George Sand had taken back her independence in 1831, her
intercourse with Dudevant had not been disagreeable. She and her husband
exchanged cordial letters. When he came to Paris, he made no attempt to
stay with his wife, lest he should inconvenience her. "I shall put up
at Hippolyte's," he says in his letter to her. "I do not want to
inconvenience you in the least, nor to be inconvenienced myself, which
is quite natural." He certainly was a most discreet husband. When
she started for Italy, he begs her to take advantage of so good an
opportunity for seeing such a beautiful country. He was also a husband
ready to give good advice. Later on, he invited Pagello to spend a
little time at Nohant. This was certainly the climax in this strange
story.

During the months, though, that the husband and wife were together,
again at Nohant, the scenes began once more. Dudevant's irritability was
increased by the fact that he was always short of money, and that he was
aware of his own deplorable shortcomings as a financial administrator.
He had made speculations which had been disastrous. He was very
credulous, as so many suspicious people are, and he had been duped by