One would adore Hell if the weather there were as fine as in Nice. I was out all morning with Maman, breathing deep into my lungs. We went into the...
This morning I received the season ticket. None of us had said another word about it. So why do they send it to me?
Yesterday's blow has half broken me. I want to run away — and where, and from whom? To run away from myself — is it possible!
We went to the Skating-rink; Mme Anitchkoff was, for once, well dressed — for her. There were few people there. Mme Souvoroff came up to me, most...
I wake in an extraordinary state of animation, as though expecting something. I take Lubimoff by storm; he is one of those people who can be bowled...
Yesterday I was woken by a card from my father bearing these words:
Bibi and Collignon find me sorting music in front of Mme Anitchkoff.
The two Lubimoffs, having lunched with us, have left for Switzerland.
Oh! when I look at these four brown walls of the dining room, that Audiffret, that Pelikan (very respectable people), us, old men, cards! Oh! Ah! Oh!
Weary for the hundredth time, I decided to go to San Remo to get my father's last word. As far as Monaco I had plenty of company, notably Broussais,...
What if I were to take my father with us? He consents — but with Maman and for two days only. This arrangement has several advantages, among them...
We set out yesterday from San Remo — my father, my mother, and I — like a respectable family that has always been together. What thoughts I had...
Visconti in the morning.
The stiff and stupid Paparigopoulos made my father's acquaintance, as did Plowden. We met Plowden in the street and he blushed so violently and for...
I see him off to the station, the pedant!
I looked ravishing at the rink and was the best skater there.
You, Monsieur? We have nothing to say to each other — the situation is painful and ugly.
This superstition makes me dread a dismal first of January.
— That I ended by going there no more — I tell you frankly, for a household so badly kept is to me like a kick in the backside.
I am calm. People spoke to us of Pietro quite naturally, as though nothing had occurred; no one seemed to take any interest in him or to believe all...
Today was spent at San Remo; the princess went to Maman's to invite her to luncheon. So we were all together. Maman scolded — that is, reprimanded...
Oh, that! The gossip — for Mme Tutcheff is telling everyone that we have nothing left, that everything is to be sold, that Binder's carriages were...
I went to Rome and it is as if I had not been there. Yet everyone we met seemed glad to see us again, and I still see Potechine's cordial face — with...
It is a town of gossip and slander, as I learned on my return from Rome.
Nothing special in the morning — Barnola and Broussais — and then I learn that Gambetta is in Nice, and without a moment's hesitation I send him a...
Yesterday... let me see, yes — yesterday I waited for Gambetta and Pierret; neither came, but in their place the Polish count. I was so downcast that...
It is with deep regret that I find myself obliged to return to a subject that seemed to have been cleared up.
I skate very well. It was bound to be. Lewin came over to chat with us.
I was dressed as a monk... Everyone asks to see my room, and I show it willingly. One goes up to the first floor and enters a tiny anteroom [words...
Pelikan lunched with us; then I went out alone in the carriage to do a little shopping. I met Galula.
I have always been told that I had no father. I did not want to believe it. Now I am convinced of it, and I give you my word of honour that as long...
I come home from the Skating in a gloomy mood. Skating is all very well, but to see Audiffret and Bergerault, who do not bow — it is disgusting!!!
==If you knew how well the red bonbonnière shoe to be had at Spillman's would suit my foot.==
My meagre success makes you suppose that I think myself better than I am, that I exaggerate my charms. You are mistaken. If only I could appear in...
And indeed it was a ravishing gathering — apart from a few nonentities, the representatives of the European aristocracy.
I have just come back from the pavilion, where I had supper with my family — on our return from Monaco, where there was a crowd, and Angelini....
After an unbearable sitting, I went to the Skating, where I was the victim of a double accident. The first was that the Surprising One, without...
As a result of yesterday's fall my left ankle is swollen, which allows me to appear at the Skating in all the majesty of a long gown. My escorts were...
Pelikan and Mme Zurmüllen come to eat with us, and I go with them to the grandstand, where there is a regiment of cocottes in white!
All the same, I no longer know what I am doing, what I am saying, or what is going on around me. I should like to go quite mad — but with a merry...
Gautier, who is invited for tomorrow, comes today; then Meyssner, and after dinner Pelikan, Broussais, Anitchkoff and Walitsky. The four of them had...
At one o'clock we set off for "the Var racecourse". Maman, my aunt, Mme Anitchkoff, Walitsky and Meyssner in the landau. As for me, I drive two...
Big clouds seem to be bringing rain, so we go home, and at once the sun comes out, so that I finish the day on my terrace with Dina, where Ricardo...
We were at the Anitchkoffs'; I painted with Olga, and after taking a drive to show off my livery (made in twenty-four hours, and very handsome) I...
In fact it is only a piece of filth so remote from us that it would be ridiculous to talk about it, if our position in Nice were different.
I went to the Anitchkoffs' with Dina, in my ==basket carriage==. There I soothed M. Anitchkoff's nerves with my singing, and took his wife to the...
My model Olga is the most infernal of faces. Not a moment's calm; the expression changes every minute and the eyes get up to the most incredible...
Bihovetz came to pay his court before dinner, and afterwards we had Pelikan and his brother-in-law Azantchewsky, Broussais and Meyssner.
I have no luck: here are ladies who, if you remember, were to get us into the Prefecture; these ladies, I say, can no longer go out, seeing that...
Faure sang in *Faust* before a dazzling house.
I went out with Maman, and then I set about going through the drawing rooms to see whether there were flowers and whether everything had the look I...
I replied that I knew nothing.
At the Skating-rink, the prettiest sight imaginable. Obstacle races, ring races. When the little girls came forward after the grown-ups, everyone sat...
The general and Meyssner came to the station with sweets and flowers; Rangoni came with nothing, but with plenty of pretty speeches. Princess...
A tremendous crowd on the Chiaja, embellished by the presence of my adored Larderel, driving a very pretty horse. I had the courage not to turn...
One proof of it is that wretched Antonelli. Indeed nothing goes right for me — neither what is worth the trouble, nor what is worth nothing. Whereas...
"Toledo 292, Mme A.T.E." — these words traced on a sheet painted by Duchad are sent to Larderel with a bouquet of violets.
Larderel did not go to that ball. What follows is difficult to recount. Know only that in very short order I shall be raving mad. But there is...
It seems to me that I dreamed all of it.
Maman being in bed, we went with Pelikan to the Naples Skating Rink, set up, as in Rome, in a sort of riding school. The atmosphere was truly...
Larderel's coachman has not yet left and I send Rosalie to him every moment for news.
I do not know what to do with myself — which is why we set out this morning at nine o'clock to visit Castellamare, Sejano, Vico, Sorrento, etc. As...
I rose early and we went to see the Grotto of Pausilippe — now that I like — and then Virgil's tomb. To the point! I am upset: Larderel's coachman...
Tomorrow it will be eight days since Bijou-bouzouk left.
I went riding this morning with Altamura. This man strikes me as a swindler — and yet I know otherwise. He always looks as if he were cutting capers,...
I wanted to add nothing to that exclamation — but Merisano and the officer remained leaning against the railing opposite our windows for more than...
It is raining; the sun comes out to light up the arrival of the Prince of Prussia. As Dina and I were wondering why we had not seen Count Doenhoff,...
I sit down at the piano at half past two after Altamura's visit. I take a spinning-wheel piece by Litolff, and tell myself to play it fifty times — a...
This evening I dined at the table d'hôte and this man told his neighbour and friend that it is a treat for him, that yesterday and the day before he...