_Contemple d'un oeil morne_
_Musset tout debraille, etc._

It is evident that, as poetry, this does not equal the _Nuits._

In the autumn they went for a honeymoon trip to Fontainebleau. It was
there that the strange scene took place which is mentioned in _Elle
et Lui_. One evening when they were in the forest, Musset had an
extraordinary hallucination, which he has himself described:

_Dans tin bois, sur une bruyere,
Au pied d'un arbre vint s'asseoir
Un jeune homme vetu de noir
Qui me ressemblail comme un frere._

_Le lui demandais mon chemin,
Il tenait un luth d'ue main,
De l'autre un bouquet d'eglantine.
Il me fit tin salut d'ami
Et, se detournant a demu,
Me montra du doigt la colline._

He really saw this "double," dressed in black, which was to visit him
again later on. His _Nuit de decembre_ was written from it.

They now wanted to see Italy together. Musset had already written on
Venice; he now wanted to go there. Madame de Musset objected to this,
but George Sand promised so sincerely that she would be a mother to the
young man that finally his own mother gave her consent. On the evening
of December 12, 1833, Paul de Musset accompanied the two travellers to