Monday, 17 September 1883

The Maréchale and Claire come to spend an hour here.
Through them I shall have every facility for making the painting I have dreamed of at Jouy.
They are angels. The Prince and Princess Karageorgevitch dine here. Since their cousin Pierre married the daughter of the Prince of Montenegro and has become the candidate championed by Emperor Alexander for the Serbian throne, I wonder whether our Bojidar are serious Karageorgevitches. And I urge the princess to be on the best terms with Prince Pierre — they are on bad terms; the Bojidar boys' father was foolish and ill and thrown out, and married his wife who was born Anastacievitch, daughter of the millionaire Anastacievitch who conspired against the Karageorgevitches and brought them down. At any rate, I shall never fully understand all these Balkan intrigues precisely; what matters to me is that the Bojidar boys be recognized and received by the chief, Pierre.