"What a repellent [antipathische] woman the Sand is! But is
she really a woman? I am inclined to doubt it."

Liszt, in discussing this matter with me, spoke only of Chopin's
"reserve" towards George Sand, but said nothing of his "aversion"
to her. And according to this authority the novelist's
extraordinary mind and attractive conversation soon overcame the
musician's reserve. Alfred de Musset's experience had been of a
similar nature. George Sand did not particularly please him at
first, but a few visits which he paid her sufficed to inflame his
heart with a violent passion. The liaisons of the poet and
musician with the novelist offer other points of resemblance
besides the one just mentioned: both Musset and Chopin were
younger than George Sand--the one six, the other five years; and
both, notwithstanding the dissimilarity of their characters,
occupied the position of a weaker half. In the case of Chopin I
am reminded of a saying of Sydney Smith, who, in speaking of his
friends the historian Grote and his wife, remarked: "I do like
them both so much, for he is so lady-like, and she is such a
perfect gentleman." Indeed, Chopin was described to me by his
pupil Gutmann as feminine in looks, gestures, and taste; as to
George Sand, although many may be unwilling to admit her perfect
gentlemanliness, no one can doubt her manliness:--

Dark and olive-complexioned Lelia! [writes Liszt] thou hast
walked in solitary places, sombre as Lara, distracted as
Manfred, rebellious as Cain, but more fierce [farouche], more
pitiless, more inconsolable than they, because thou hast found
among the hearts of men none feminine enough to love thee as
they have been loved, to pay to thy virile charms the tribute