Sunday, 9 February 1873

It is curious how much pleasure I take simply in reading what I write about him.
All these pages that make up this notebook are perhaps foolish, but for me, in the evening, when I reread them, alone in my room, it is a great, a delicious happiness.
And I thank myself for having noted all these impressions; these lines speak to me of him. I love them too, for that.
Ah! how wrong I was to imagine, never having wanted to look at her out of jealousy, that Gioia was ugly. I saw her just now, that abominable woman: she is beautiful, more beautiful than I.
I shall never be truly beautiful; I shall be pretty sometimes, that is all.
That woman, I detest her, but the day she is no longer my rival, I know well that I shall no longer feel hatred toward her — quite the contrary. I love the Duke. And to think that my love is condemned to remain unknown to him!
Tomorrow, my God, there is the pigeon shooting; I shall see him, shall I not? Today a Baron Bach (Russian) came — quite suitable for Dina. I return again to the Duke. I cannot express how much he pleases me.