Consuelo

Consuelo is a novel by George Sand, first published serially in 1842–1843 in the Revue indépendante, a periodical founded in 1841 by Sand, Pierre Leroux and Louis Viardot. According to The Nuttall Encyclopædia, it is "[Sand's] masterpiece; the impersonation of the triumph of moral purity over manifold temptations." The character of Consuelo was supposedly modeled after Louis Viardot's wife, the soprano Pauline Viardot. Pauline Viardot was a good friend of both Sand's and of her lover Frédéric Chopin. First sentence «Oui, oui, Mesdemoiselles, hochez la tête tant qu'il vous plaira; la plus sage et la meilleure d'entre vous, c'est ... Mais je ne veux pas le dire; car c'est la seule de ma classe qui ait de la modestie, et je craindrais, en la nommant, de lui faire perdre à l'instant même cette rare vertu que je vous souhaite.... » "Go on then, young ladies, shake your heads at me, but I'll tell you this... the best behaved and the cleverest girl among you is... — no, I won't tell you who, because she is the only one of my class who has any modesty. I am afraid that if I pointed her out here, she would instantly lose that rare virtue. It is one that I wish the rest of you had more of..." —