Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Wednesday, 19 March 1884

I found an orchard at Sèvres and did not return until about eight o'clock, very tired; the Pelikans and Bagnitsky are dining. Yesterday the ballot took place at the Circle of Russian Artists. I was elected unanimously. I do not think it is of great importance.
Claire saw a gentleman who had visited Bastien and found him very ill; the following day he met Bastien's doctor, who said: "In my view this man is very ill — but I do not believe it is rheumatism; he is ill there (tapping his stomach)." So he is truly ill — so I forgive... He left three or four days ago for Blida, accompanied by his mother.
But at this moment I am far more occupied with an anonymous correspondence with another man of talent. We are on the third letter, and if it stops I shall share them with you.

Thursday, 20 March 1884

Notes

Blida: a town in French Algeria with a mild climate, used as a convalescent destination. Bastien-Lepage was in fact suffering from abdominal cancer, to which he would succumb in December 1884. ↩