Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Saturday, 2 January 1875

Every day my torment grows — I still do not go to Paris!
I walked with Sabatini (white dress, white damask overcoat embroidered with gold — fine). There is not a soul worth paying attention to; d'Audiffret has grown decidedly plainer in two months — and what is Audiffret, in any case?
I find Mlle de Galve much aged — but still agreeable. How old can she be? Let us say twenty-three.
I told the story of the Italian to the few people I know.
In the evening to the Opera — "Romeo and Juliet" by Bellini, for Dory's benefit, lighting a giorno (white dress, my own hairstyle, with half up and half — there it is!). I find myself looking very old and plain — but no matter, it is only the hairstyle. In a word, I was well coiffed. This dreadful little sketch represents a white muslin dress, with the sleeves and the upper part of the bodice in Valenciennes insertion lace. I am pleased with myself this evening. Entering at the same moment as us, Mme de Galve and her daughter-in-law, both in white.
The theatre is indeed well lit and society is elegant, though sparse. The Galves are in the second row, opposite us — beside them young Audiffret, then the elder; in the lower tier some strangers and Saetone with the one my aunt calls Constantin, who is as much Constantin as I am d'Aspremont. Foster is with us.
When Galula comes to our box my aunt asked him who that gentleman is.
— "It is M. Danis, a young man from Nice."
— Miserere! Only M. Danis — but at least he is not married.
The house looks elegant and cheerful. Above us, Madame Prodgers.
M. de Mauldre comes to see us toward the end and accompanies us to our carriage.

Notes

RSR note: Actually Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues), often billed as "Romeo and Juliet." ↩
In Italian in the original. "A giorno" — brilliantly lit, as bright as day. ↩
In Italian in the original. "Miserere!" — "Have mercy!" from the liturgy; an exclamation of dismay. ↩