Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Saturday, 5 February 1876

Tomorrow, Vigier will sing Faust at the Cercle de la Méditerranée.
We go out together, Maman and I — the weather is bad, grey and cold; I have a slight headache and am very anxious about Nice. Neither letters nor telegrams. What has become of them all?
In the evening we telegram them asking the explanation of this strange silence. And we conjecture — floating between someone’s death, Audiffret’s marriage, or something still more grave.
As for me, I pray to God all the same, and go to bed sad and bored, having copied [at least] two letters: one is the one about retrieving the soul; the other is the old coronation of the Rose Queen letter that has not been sent until now. One only had to change the dates, and I have fixed the ceremony for the 22nd of May — the feast of Saint Émile — and signed: The citizens of the city of Nice, and below I have drawn in ink the arms of Nice, a crowned eagle on three hills with the inscription: City of Nice.

Notes

Vigier: presumably the vicomtesse Vigier, the former soprano Sophie Cruvelli (1826–1907), who retired from the stage on her marriage to the vicomte Vigier and lived on the Riviera; not a tenor. The identification is probable, not certain: Marie writes only “Vigier”. ↩
The Cercle de la Méditerranée: the most prestigious social club in Nice, centre of fashionable winter-season entertainment. ↩
In French in the original: couronnement de la Rosière. La Rosière: a traditional ceremony in which a virtuous young woman of the village is crowned with roses; Marie adapts this satirically. ↩
The feast of Saint Émile (May 22): Émile d’Audiffret’s name-day, the targeted date for the satirical letter. ↩
In Latin in the original: Nicae Civitas. The Latin inscription on the coat of arms of Nice. ↩