Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Wednesday, 3 January 1883

Reading the newspapers full of Gambetta grips my head like an iron band — the patriotic tirades, the resonant words: patriot, great citizen, a national mourning... I cannot work; I tried; I wanted to force myself — and it is even this false composure of the first hours that made me commit the irreparable and [words blacked out: never] regrettable stupidity of staying in Paris instead of rushing to Ville d'Avray1 the moment the news came — to see the room and even make a sketch... I shall never be an opportunist...

La lecture des journaux remplis de Gambetta me serre la tete comme dans un cercle de fer, les tirades patriotiques, les mots sonores, patriote, grand citoyen, un deuil national... Je ne peux pas travailler, j'ai essaye, j'ai voulu m'y forcer et c'est meme ce faux sang-froid de la premiere heure qui m'a fait commettre l'irreparable et [Mots noircis: jamais] regrettable betise d'etre restee a Paris au lieu de courir a Ville d'Avray la nouvelle sitot recue et voir la chambre et faire meme un croquis... Je ne [Raye: toujours] serai jamais opportuniste...

In any case... You will see from the papers that Bastien did not leave Ville d'Avray or the Palais-Bourbon for an instant. We go to the Opéra this evening — the Casa-Riera box, as usual. The Gavinis, Géry, Nervo, Lahirle, the Marquis and Marquise de Villeneuve. The Marquise is the daughter of Prince Pierre Bonaparte,2 and married to her little marquis of a husband thanks to the million given by Prince Roland her brother — who married and was widowed by Mlle Blanc, of Monaco.3 There. I am covered in roses and white gauzes, with a plait wound round my head — this crown of hair has something ravishing about it. The Marquis de Casa-Riera4 is there too. He is the nephew of the old man who died and from whom he inherited sixty millions. He is fifty and unmarried.

Enfin... Vous voyez d'apres les journaux que Bastien n'a pas quitte un instant a Ville d'Avray et au Palais-Bourbon. Nous allons a l'Opera ce soir, loge Casa-Riera, comme d'habitude. Les Gavini, Gery, Nervo, Lahirle, le marquis et la marquise de Villeneuve, la marquise est la fille du prince Pierre Bonaparte et mariee a son petit marquis de mari grace au million donne par le prince Roland son frere marie et veuf de Mlle Blanc, de Monaco. La. Je suis couverte de roses et de vapeurs blanches, une natte autour de la tete; cette couronne de cheveux a quelque chose de ravissant. Le marquis de Casa-Riera est la aussi. C'est [le] neveu du vieux mort dont il a herite les soixantes millions. Il a cinquante ans et celibataire.

Notes

Ville d'Avray: the suburb west of Paris where Gambetta had been staying at the villa of Léonie Léon, his long-time companion. He died there on 31 December. Bastien-Lepage, who sketched and painted there during the death and the lying-in-state, showed the artistic instinct Marie regrets not having followed. ↩
Prince Pierre Bonaparte (1815–1881): a nephew of Napoleon I, notorious for having shot and killed the journalist Victor Noir in 1870 — an act that caused a major political crisis. His daughter marrying into the Villeneuve family was one of those aristocratic alliances that required a dowry to compensate for tainted lineage. ↩
Mlle Blanc, of Monaco: Marie Blanc (1854–1881), daughter of François Blanc the gambling magnate who built the Monte Carlo Casino. Her fortune was enormous; her marriage to Prince Roland Bonaparte was one of the dynastic-financial alliances of the era. ↩
The Marquis de Casa-Riera: a Spanish-French aristocrat of very great wealth. Marie's notation of his age (fifty) and unmarried status is not accidental. ↩