Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Wednesday, 5 April 1882

Dramas have occurred! Bojidar is in a state. Sarah Bernhardt, instead of coming to perform in Nice, has fled to London with her leading man Daria, whom she has just married — quite a mad adventure. What is the point of marrying when one is as free as she? But it seems it was he who wanted it. As for Bojidar, he is beside himself, saying Sarah is hysterical and that this gentleman is a scoundrel for exploiting an attack of madness.

Il s'est passe des drames ! Ce Bojidar est dans les etats. Sarah Bernhard au lieu de venir jouer a Nice s'est enfuie a Londres avec son jeune premier Daria qu'elle vient d'epouser...

And thereupon the most extraordinary stories, as usual — only Berthe could create dramas without head or tail and come and relate them. Bojidar gets carried away, contradicts himself, and ends by believing it all happened.

Et la dessus les histoires les plus extraordinaires comme d'habitude, il n'y avait que Berthe pour creer des drames sans queue ni tete et venir les raconter. Bojidar s'emballe, se contredit et finit par croire que c'est arrive.

But have no fear — Sarah will be cruelly punished. In her absence it was Bojidar who kept the keys to her hotel; well, he is going to have them sent to her on a tray by his manservant.

Mais soyez tranquille, Sarah sera cruellement punie, en son absence c'est Bojidar qui gardait les clefs de son hotel, eh bien il va les lui faire porter sur un plateau par son domestique.

— Well, and then?

— Eh bien apres ?

— Well, it will mean she will never see me again — it is adorable. Certainly he had made himself useful and agreeable in the actress's intimacy, but to be so childish as to believe that a tray will impress a woman so madly in love. It seems his friends are furious. She must be mad. One cannot imagine Sarah married; it is something embarrassing and ridiculous for her, degrading for her husband.

— Eh bien, cela voudra dire qu'elle ne me verra plus jamais, c'est adorable.

He is a Greek... I cannot say why, but Greeks, Romanians, Montenegrins, Bulgarians — none of them give me the impression of people like us; rather an inferior race. Add to these Turks, Serbs, Armenians — I am mad, but these peoples seem to me something like crowds of cheats...

C'est un Grec... Je ne sais pourquoi les Grecs, les Roumains, les Montenegrins, les Bulgares !... tout cela ne me fait pas l'effet de gens comme nous, mais une race inferieure. Ajoutons-y les Turcs, les Serbes, les Armeniens, je suis folle mais ces peuples me paraissent quelque chose comme des tas de tricheurs...