I walked back to the Gare du Nord by way of La Nouvelle Athènes, the area on the slopes up to Montmartre, which was developed in the early nineteenth century and occupied by artists and intellectuals, including Ary Scheffer, whose house down a tree-lined alleyway is now the Musée de la Vie Romantique:-
It has a cast of Chopin’s fingers:-
From there I walked down to the Square Orléans, designed by Edward Cresy and where George Sand lived with Chopin as well as Prosper Mérimée:-
And so to the Gare du Nord:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
I didn’t realise that George Sand lived with both Chopin & Mérimée. Fascinating.
Further to our brief conversation the other evening I made inquiries of a good friend in Paris who knows about these things & this is his reply: “Chopin bien sur, la dame aimait les hommes fragiles et plus jeunes qu’elle. Je ne vois pas Prosper Mérimée dans son lit, peut un “one shot”. Elle aurait eu aussi une liaison avec la comédienne Marie Dorval si tu veux rajouter du piquant !”
Thank you ! Charles