Saturday, 3 January 1874

The door slams shut, and off they go! Miserere!
We barely had time to finish the outfits; immediately after dinner Bete, Paul, and I go to Monier's and stay there from seven to nine until the dresses are finished. None of these fripperies please me, Dina's especially with her white tarlatan, so common.
It is a grand musical soiree at M. and Mme Howard's. My aunt's dress is pretty but the bodice is crooked, so that people will think she is poorly attended to. Miserere! Diadia was present for the departure and left himself a few minutes later, with Bete.
I went riding, alone with the groom, on Rob Roy. I went the length of the Promenade at a slow canter, I sat very well, the horse is pretty and I am pleased.
Mlle de Galve was on horseback too, with her father; she sits well on a horse. I went along the avenue de la Gare, then the route Saint-Pons where I changed horses, took Kitty, then in one of the lanes of the quai Saint-Jean-Baptiste I took Rob Roy again, whom I know how to trot. Once more the whole Promenade, going up at a trot, coming down at a slow canter. It is so lovely, this slow canter a little faster than a good walk; the horse leaps gracefully and one is glued to the saddle. Everyone was looking at me. Yesterday I saw Lord Falkner near the London House and our people saw Lady Falkner in Monaco. At last the crowd I love is assembling. Nice is a very charming place to come and spend two months, as in the country, to unwind from the noise of a capital, go out in the morning, ride, go to Monaco, to the races, to the pigeon shooting, to the Reserve, to the London House; to the Var and Saint-Andre once and leave content with Nice, and content to return to Paris. Like that I would love Nice very much, to come and do as one pleases, with a crowd of one's own. But to stay here as we do, Miserere!!!
The Duke of Hamilton is already listed at the Monte Carlo casino among the shooting commissioners. Soon he will be seen in person, and his wife too no doubt. I am curious to see her; I cannot imagine her, she must be neither blonde, nor brunette, nor chestnut, nor red-haired, nor grey. She is a being apart. But we shall see.
At home we speak of it sometimes, but little. Towards evening I am in a bad mood, which I do not show.
Yesterday I explained to Maman that I want to be treated differently, for when I offered her my advice on her outfit she answered me sharply and in that manner which irritates me so. I said that I do her an honour and a pleasure in offering to go to Monier's, and that I want to be treated otherwise. She begged me to go but I refused. This evening I could not help fixing the skirt and they spoke to me in the same impertinent and irritating manner. I have told myself a hundred times that I will touch nothing more, but I also cannot bear to see something badly done, crooked -- I must fix it, whatever my anger. I must however restrain myself and let her go as she pleases, let her be monstrously and comically dressed -- I shall meddle no more.
Miserere!
I had forbidden myself to think of him while falling asleep -- it was a kind of fortune-telling, as I always do -- but I forgot and thought of him; since that moment, I always think of him as I fall asleep and I love my bed once more.

Notes

In English in the original.