Sunday, 14 March 1875

I slept twelve hours. Since Maman came back there is life in the house, for ill as she is, she is its soul.
It is grey but calm and mild. I go round to Mme de Mouzay’s to bring her our box at the Théâtre Français; she keeps me a very long time. Afterwards I go to the café with Nadinka and the children!
In the evening at the opera, Il Trovatore (blue dress, pretty coiffure, blue bow in the middle — good). Nadinka in her white woollen dress from Laferrière, a medieval-style dress; I have sent for one like it with a slight change, and I have also ordered from Reboux a Watteau-shaped hat of yellow straw with white feathers and straw trimmings.
The house is as empty as can be — and I was in the mood to conquer the world!