Tuesday, 5 April 1881

A surprise! M. Bashkirtseff has arrived. I am fetched from the atelier and find him in the dining room with Maman, who is lavishing every affection on him. Dina and Saint-Amand delighted by the spectacle of this conjugal happiness. We go out together — M., Mme, and the baby — to shops for Monsieur, then to the Bois, and briefly to the Karageorgevitches’.
He has no doubt come to fetch Maman — but I know nothing yet; we are still too unsettled.

Notes

M. Bashkirtseff: Marie’s father, from whom the family had been estranged. His appearance in Paris is unexpected and clearly fraught with complicated emotions — Maman’s excess of tenderness hints at the complexity. ↩