ALFRED DE MUSS LOVE LETTFRS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14299, 19 February 1910, Page 6 (Supplement)

ALFRED DE MUSS LOVE LETTFRS.

MYSTERY OF WOMAN. ..'■ " ' ; ;-> ' No murder, or., scandal, or apache story is; exciting ;. the boulevards in.: Paris just now, but a literary ,'iipve mystery./ Who told us that Paris was no longer sentimentill' or romantic, and:cared." to-day only 1 for violent sensations? The mystery, concerns a packet' of passionate love" letters addressed by the famous poet Alfred de ; Mu'sset,' to a '••' beautiful;: unknown lady. . This was solemnly opened the other morn-: ing by the Director of the Manuscript Department of the Bibliotheque. Nation-; ale, in the, presence of M. Troubat, who entrusted them thirty years ago; to him, and to whom they have now been handed back. Only two other persons were present, and no one will be allowed, to; look at the manuscript until the letters; are published by Mr. Troubat in - a review. They ' are 79 ■in number, and- bear -dates from 1837 to 1848. The name of the' woman to. whom they, were " addressed, which appeared ■on several of the pages, has been -erased. When the letters ; have been published/the manuscript will bo bound, and only then will readers' of the Manuscript Department of the 'Bibliotbeqne Nationale have access to it. Even then they will not know to whom the letters' were addressed. In fact, the world never will know. " Who was the; belle inconnuo?,".- is the mystery of ' the; hour, and the cynical, callous boulevardiers, are '. occupied ; only ..with., one thing to-dayto find out who the woman was whom a poet loved 60 years ago. "Her name?" '.' No ; one shall'" evier. know it," says M. Troubat.'" Was 'shebeautiful?" ' "Of course, she was," he: answered. " as »-he dark?" • :.. :,. *, . " No, fair. When I -■know,;, her thing silver', had ' already ■ streaked her .brow.. /; Her face was still beautiful. . She \ had a keen and cultured, unconventionalmind. ; Born in he - wealthy bourgeoisie, ; she ;'\\ as a.; young widow when, at an evening party, : she■ met/Alfred -de: He fell madly .in love, and wrote .to/tell'' her so. Hence the - letters; ■< I terwards--knew '.;.■: her,7and was,' as it'.werei/a;]ayv director or conscience to . her.; > Once asweek I called upon her. One day I found - her., preoccupied. '%. She then 'confessed :to. me about ' de Musset, and told ; me ; about ■ the letters, which - she > meant rto burn; ■ "You have no, right ,to ' burn * them," I cried, and I eventually obtained them on condition that her name ~ should: or - ever be concealed, -.and that they should not be read before thirty years elapsed." ■'- Those 30 years expired on the day whenthe seal on : •■• the' old casket-containing'. l the letters was broken, and the "casket opened.. Only four persons read the let" ters, the Director of the Manuscript Department, M. Troubat, and;two learned - ' friends of the ; latter, MM. Seche, father arid son.. Aged scholars, sentimental students, the peculiar breed of V elderly: lady that haunts the v National Library asit haunts the British MuseurA readings room,; were all \ kept away in a'passage;' and waited by a ; door behind which some-: thing was happening, behind which the love letters of {the, poet, who . ally in love;' was : being opened;-;''. Only, rumour told what was behind that door. As.each faded page was opened and read, a thrill of emotion quivered/ through the , four men, .In? the/passage the aged scholars fand the ; elderly ladies quivered by proxy. : Outside: .the National , Library the boulevards ; were quivering -i also. , M; Troubat came out of the room, where the love-letters ; had' been i opened, and walked into; .the passage,'•? still trembling with emotion. v " Never • will /I:; tell' the name!" he swore again; others may be indiscreet, not 1/ As for thej letters,"' he added: . ' -_ " They are of the highest interest. They: are true lovWetters", in the truest meaning of the word. After the storms -of: pasi sion through which^he. de Miisset came out into, still, waters, into the happy ■ period of his life, which precisely'corresponds to that of the letters, .r''.'. His heart was t at peace and he worked, '.The unknown lady • had the ; most ; : beneficent influence upon him. 'They parted, ':; but de Musset never was forgotten, and doubtless never forgot. An "old; Parisian," who. remains as anonymous as the lady, says'that she married, but never forgot de Musset, and her i husband was never jealous *of i the ) poet's, i memory. She l died , six, or 'seven - years ago, v a confirmed agnostic,, refusing the ministrations of religion to the end.. The last friend who sat at ' her bedside!; when she died was Princess Mathijde. ; Who/ then, was the belle inconnue? The boulevards have, after all, found out, or think they have found out. She .became Madame Paul, : , de . Musset, after Alfred de Musset's death. The poet's brother, who had stood up .for him in a amour book, " Lui et Elle," a ; counterblast to , ; the "Elle ; et Lui" '; about ■ Alfred de Mtisset! and Georges * Sand,' married >the poet's mistress after her lover's. death.. .Both,,br6f; thers had ■'• loved the; same woman. She accepted the beloved poet's brother .after the poet was dead, though the latter -was; still beloved. ;.':.- Somehow, this key .;■ to the r riddle rather takes .the gilt off Jthe romance. ; But is it : the traie one, > and did r ; the beautiful ; unknown lady really become; Madame Paul: de ; Musset? At any rate, says the Telegraph, the moral ;of-; it all is the spectacle;; of " Tout /Paris''ihang-: ing upon the faded /.words ?. of : passionwritten/ on the yellowed pages of those -year-old love letters solemnly opened' jin the Bibliotheque Nationale. ■. , -.. ■'