The architect brings partridges and carries off the promise of a visit to the Bois. It is a real excursion: we take everything needed to make chocolate. He has a cup, then we take a few steps — he walks quite unaided.
Lundi 1er septembre 1884
The drive back as yesterday — but with encounters that will give rise to gossip. The Jew Hecht,1 and the painters Béraud and Tissot.2 Since Bastien’s imminent death had been announced, his friends show a surprise mingled with joy.
Le retour comme hier, mais des rencontres qui vont produire des potins. Le Juif Hecht, et les peintres Béraud et Tissot. Comme on avait annoncé la mort prochaine de Bastien, ses amis manifestent une surprise mêlée de joie.
And people will say that we are taking him out for drives. It is true. But they will draw foolish conclusions.
Et on va dire que nous le promenons. C’est vrai. Mais on en déduira des bêtises.
Notes
Henri Hecht, prominent Paris art collector and patron. Marie uses an antisemitic formulation typical of her social world.↩
Jean Béraud (1849–1935) and James Tissot (1836–1902), fashionable painters of Parisian life.↩