Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Monday, 20 October 1884

Despite magnificent weather Bastien comes here instead of going to the Bois. He can scarcely walk any more; his brother holds him under each arm — practically carries him. And once in the armchair the poor child is utterly spent.
Woe to us. And how many doorkeepers are in perfect health!
Emile is an admirable brother. It is he who carries Jules up and down on his shoulders to their third-floor apartment.
But I have in Dina a devotion equal to his.
For two days now my bed has been in the drawing room; but as it is very large, and divided by folding screens and ottomans and the piano, one does not notice it. It is too difficult for me to climb the stairs.

Notes

Marie's bitter irony: the most humble and inconsequential people flourish, while a genius like Bastien-Lepage dies at 36. ↩
This is Marie Bashkirtseff's last diary entry. She died on 31 October 1884, eleven days after writing these words. She was twenty-five years old. Jules Bastien-Lepage died on 10 December 1884. ↩