George SAND (1804-1876). L.A.S., Nohant February 25, 1860, to Pauline VIARDOT; 3pages in-8 her GS numeral, in blue ink. Beautiful, affectionate letter to the singer, who triumphed in Gluck's Orphée, about their project for a comic opera based on La Mare au diable. "Dear Daughter, I am very happy with what you tell me about 8 or 10 more performances [of Orphée], for I have a cold and was afraid to leave in this cold. But I would have braved it if I had to. As soon as it stops freezing like hell, I'll write to you so that you can book me a good box, but one that I want to rent, because I want it to be good, and the boxes given by the administration (when they give any) are always bad. I want to see you in full, as well as hear you, and I'm too old to break my neck looking sideways, to catch a glimpse of nose or drapery. Yes, I'll go and kiss you with all my heart and arms, one fine morning, not dinner. I can't stay longer than 8 or 10 minutes at the table without getting sick, unless I'm in the open air, in summer, on the terrace at Nohant, and I don't expect to find that in Paris for a quarter of an hour. Ah, when will you return to poor Nohant, which you have so neglected? It's not in Paris that you find yourself, unless you're fixed on it, but when you go there on the run, always on business and counting the hours of appointments (always missed by parenthesis) and being forced to see all your friends at once, which means not seeing them, it's like tasting everything without eating anything. You'll have to promise to come this year, or I'll reproach you. Paris is becoming impossible for me. I've lost my climate, and even though I'm in good health here, I can't set foot here without being permanently ill. - I never knew if you had received all the verses of La Mare au diable. [...] You'll let me know if it suits you, and when you find yourself in your country leisure, in Nohant perhaps, (let me dream that) you'll make a little masterpiece. Bonsoir ma chérie fifille, je embrasse tendrement vous, et Louis, et toute la marmaille". Correspondance, t.XXV (S875).