Friday, 7 December 1877

The Bim-bam march, Nina... there was something Homeric about that woman — the disguises, the nocturnal excursions in men's dress, my graces... Good God, yes, that was youth — first youth, true youth! Marie's braided froggings, Olga's grey overcoat... the evenings at the Opera, the Tower; I believe all the gaiety that Providence had allotted us was spent then...
If they were here — Nina would go to the studio "to see the naked men," she would invite the models to take tea at her house I believe, and the escapades we would make...
Ah! My fifteen years, ah! My graces — the prickly pear!
Yes, that was happiness — the Latin Quarter, joy — we were students... who do not study... but who had their grisette
— Émile d'Audiffret.

Notes

A grisette was a working-class young Parisian woman, traditionally the romantic companion of a student; the word evokes Bohemian youth and the legend of student life in the Latin Quarter.