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Thursday, 7 January 1875

I go riding with Zoé — we ride to Villefranche at a fast trot or full gallop almost the whole way.

Nothing more charming than galloping along this climbing road — rocks on one side, and on the other a steep hillside peopled with villas, gardens, and below, the sea: blue, calm, immense. The sun was at our backs and a fresh breeze bathed our faces, sweeping our skirts and our horses' manes behind us.

Rien de plus charmant que de galoper sur cette route qui monte, d'un cote des rochers et de l'autre un precipice peuple de villas, de jardins, et en bas la mer, bleue, calme, immense...

I wore my blue riding habit from last year — the only one that suits me well.

J'avais mon amazone bleue de l'annee derniere et c'est la seule qui me va bien.

Maman is ill again. I am worried once more.

Maman est encore malade. Je suis de nouveau inquiete.

Our chambermaid Marie — the first who ever pleased me — tall, beautiful, blonde, always cheerful, laughing and intelligent. She resembles, in an inferior and servant-class way, the Venice painted by Paolo Veronese on the ceiling of the great hall of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice.¹

Notre femme de chambre Marie, la premiere qui sut me plaire, grande belle, blonde, toujours gaie, rieuse et intelligente...

This woman married two months ago, driven by I know not what devil — for she loathes the man she married, loathes him as I loathe the Polish count. To escape him she came to us; but her dear husband wants to reclaim her and keeps coming to demand her back, imploring Maman to persuade her to come home. Maman does what she can but does not succeed. Three days ago he came and dealt poor Marie such a violent blow with his fist that she went and struck the bed with her head and fell senseless; he fled, thinking he had killed her.

Cette femme s'est mariee il y a deux mois poussee par je ne sais quel diable...

Then yesterday he came again and begged her to come downstairs. She obeyed — but once at the foot of the stairs he seized her by the throat with one hand and by the waist with the other, and tried thus, choking her, to drag her out of the house. She screams, he chokes her — at her cries Adam came running, luckily, and grabbing him from behind threw him away; during which time the woman escaped.

Enfin hier il vint de nouveau et la prie de descendre, elle obeit mais, une fois au bas de l'escalier...

Adam sent for the gendarmes — all this while we were at church, for yesterday was Christmas for us.²

Adam envoie chercher les gendarmes, tout cela pendant que nous etions a l'eglise, hier c'etait Noel pour nous.

What a scandal, good God! (I am writing with a chemical ink of my own making — it is not excellent.)

Quel scandale Bon Dieu ! (j'ecris avec une encre chimique de ma preparation, elle n'est pas excellente).

When one asks Marie why she took that man for a husband, she answers that she herself does not know how it came about. This Marie has a strange air about her — I talk to her often, and she surprises me more and more.

Quand on demande a Marie pourquoi elle a pris cet homme pour mari elle repond qu'elle ne sait pas elle-meme comment cela est arrive. Elle a l'air etrange cette Marie, je lui parle souvent, et plus en plus m'etonne.

Notes

Veronese's allegorical figure of Venice in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio of the Doge's Palace — a majestic blonde figure enthroned in the clouds. ↩

Russian Orthodox Christmas falls on 7 January (Gregorian calendar), twelve days after the Western celebration. ↩

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