Wednesday, 20 May 1874

It is eleven o'clock at night; I have just left Maman. We were saying that it is unfortunate to live as we do, that there are no young men in Nice, etc., etc. I was saying that there are some... etc.
We were with the deacon at Smith's. Two hours were spent choosing fabrics, woods, gildings, paintings, etc., etc. This dear deacon who puts on such a grand display, as Vas. Ossip. Howard says. He is ridiculous, this deacon, with his grand airs.
Today I met nobody interesting.
How wretched I am when I am not properly dressed.
Tomorrow they are presenting "Bagatelle" at the Bouffes, with Judic -- a new work by Offenbach. Not a single seat, alas!
Dinner with the deacon, then an hour of driving, then home. The two Strikers called. The elder is engaged; he will wait two years -- the young lady is the same age as he, seventeen.

^[In English in the original.]
I love Paris so much; it is so beautiful. I see that one can love a city for itself.
Until now, Paris is the most beautiful, the most graceful, and the most congenial thing I have seen.
[Crossed out: What will it give me] In fact, I have nothing to give, but how I should like to live in Paris -- not as a foreigner as at present, oh no! that would be too sad -- but to live in Paris as I wish. This life of streets and shops bores me; it is not my style.