Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Thursday, 4 September 1873

The French professor came -- twice a week, Tuesday and Saturday. In the evening I go riding with Paul. Instead of a collar, I put on crepe, and it is much prettier. Thank God, I am beginning to ride tolerably well. I have the position and the motion; I lack only the habit and the ease while trotting! It is still a little clumsy, but with time, I hope. We met Mme Daniloff. For some time she has not come to our house; Grand-papa said disagreeable things to her following a quarrel she had with Georges. It is no great misfortune, on the contrary -- I cannot understand now how she could have been received in our home. All the same, she is a good woman, and goodness and old age efface a great deal, not to mention that she is Russian, and for that she deserves even more indulgence.
Khalkionoff was with her. I stop and we talk for a few minutes. Khalkionoff says that Mouton has bought two superb horses but they are not yet trained. I want to see these horses; if they are very fine, I shall rent one for myself. Mme Daniloff thanks me warmly for the fan (which my aunt bought). On departing I had lost mine, and facing the prospect of terrible heat on the train, I asked Mme Daniloff to give me hers. I therefore owed her a fan; my aunt bought one in Russian leather, three times prettier than the other. I had thought so little about it all that when she thanked me, I did not know what she meant.
Paul's horse is quite unruly -- it refuses to trot, wanting only to walk or gallop. This irritated me terribly. I could not maintain a steady gait. I had to stop short one moment, gallop the next; I was so vexed I was ready to turn back. But mercifully the stubborn beast obeyed, and we finished the ride amicably. Scarcely do I come in before Palajka gives me a small box from Paris. It is the photographs from Walery. I open it quickly. The two kneeling poses are affected, especially the one with lowered eyes. I am not very pleased. The main defect, or rather the only defect, is that the hair in front is badly grouped, too bunched together, and there is too much of it, which gives an air of commonness. The one of the hands is the best.

Notes

In English in the original. ↩
In English in the original. ↩