Sunday, 19 August 1883

Which do I desire more — that the fellow countryman of Joan of Arc should admire me, or that my voice should return completely?
My voice, my voice, my voice! Certainly. It is the talent I desire most, for one reaps one's glory immediately, and it is intoxicating. Nothing remains of it afterwards — but one has been happy. As for Jules — il gran Giulio — if he were to begin courting me, I would think he wanted to sell paintings, or else… base motives…
Can it be? Here is why one must marry Saint-Amand — whom I have hated ever since I saw that he wants to marry me.
Something rather amusing. I believed they accepted pictures until the 20th.
It was until the 20th — but the 20th of July, not the 20th of August; I was only a month off. Those who could submit until August 10th were those accepted automatically. That is what comes of walking among the clouds and chatting with the Good Lord.

Notes

In Italian in the original: "il gran Giulio" — the great Giulio (ironic grandiloquence).