all matters of conscience. The letters which he wrote to her have
been preserved, and we know them by the extracts and the analysis that
Monsieur Rocheblave has given us and by his incisive commentaries of
them.(4) They are letters of guidance, spiritual letters. The laic
confessor endeavours, before all things, to calm the impatience of this
soul which is more and more ardent and more and more troubled every day.
He battles with her about her mania of philosophizing, her wish to sift
everything and to get to the bottom of everything. Strong in his own
calmness, he kept repeating to her in a hundred different ways the
words: "Be calm!" The advice was good; the only difficulty was the
following of the advice.

(4) "George Sand avant George Sand," by S. Rocheblave
(_Revue de Paris_, December 15, 1894).

Gradually the professor lost his hold on his pupil, for it seems as
though Aurore were the first to tire. Aurelien finally began to doubt
the efficacy of his preaching. The usual fate of sentiments outside
the common order of things is that they last the length of time that a
crisis of enthusiasm lasts. The best thing that can happen then is that
their nature should not change, that they should not deteriorate, as is
so often the case. When they remain intact to the end, they leave behind
them, in the soul, a trail of light, a trail of cold, pure light.

The decline of this platonic _liaison_ with Aurelien de Seze dates from
1828. Some grave events were taking place at Nohant about this time. For
the last few years Casimir had fallen into the vices of certain country
squires, or so-called gentlemen farmers. He had taken to drink, in
company with Hippolyte Chatiron, and it seems that the intoxication
peculiar to the natives of Berry takes a heavy and not a gay form. He