Tuesday, 29 April 1879

Berthe lunched with us.
She is an unfortunate creature. Just think — her husband has not given up the demi-monde, and continues frequenting those ladies while initiating his wife into everything that goes on in that gay world. If it were a man who had sown his wild oats and had his amusements, that would be one thing; but he is a habitué of those ladies, he did them services and they did them back; he goes there as other men go into society.
What amuses me a little is that Cassagnac has made a poor marriage, that he is not happy, that he is not rich, and that with all his aspirations to the Faubourg Saint-Germain, he has nothing to show for it but his little townhouse on the rue de Boulogne, his cook, his manservant, and his wife. With these thoughts in mind, I no longer fear running into him.