Wednesday, 30 January 1884

Almost nothing done — tried on dresses...
Claire and Villevieille.
The Orthodox priest, the princess, and Gaillard to dinner. Gaillard and I discuss serious matters... The others listen; the Orthodox priest occasionally joins the conversation... politics, Tonkin and Ferry; political questions with psychological dimensions... I do not know whether it is that Gaillard is stupid, but it seemed to me that I was very witty, producing long sentences with unexpected conclusions, in a very calm voice. The Radical husband of the Comtesse de Quincey takes me very seriously. It seems to astonish me that anyone should take me seriously... Insolent creature!

Notes

Tonkin: the French colonial campaign in northern Vietnam, then a highly contentious political issue. Jules Ferry (1832–1893), Prime Minister 1880–1881 and 1883–1885, was the chief architect of French colonial expansion. ↩