(Mme) de Daillens

Full identity: Mme Marie de Daillens, née de Mouzay (daughter of Mme de Mouzay). She is one woman throughout the diary. In December 1880 she attended the feminist society Le Droit des femmes under the pseudonym Alexandrine Norscott (see Norscott).

Overview

A young woman in Marie's Nice and Paris social circle, appearing across a decade of the diary (1873-1881, carnets 002-004, 027, 034, 047, 062, 067, 072, 077-084, 086, 088, 090, 091, 093). She is the daughter of Mme de Mouzay — this is stated directly by an RSR note on 072/1877-06-25: "Mme de Daillens is Mme de Mouzay's daughter." The same paragraph confirms it in Marie's own words: on 1875-06-07 (034.0003-0007) Marie writes "J'écris à Mme de Mouzay et sa fille de venir" ("I write to Mme de Mouzay and her daughter to come") and then lists "de Daillens" among the party that in fact arrives — "sa fille" (her daughter) and "de Daillens" are the same person.

This entry consolidates three prior duplicate/near-duplicate stubs — `DAILLENS`, `DE_DAILLENS`, and `MME_DE_DAILLENS` — merged 2026-07-06 after confirming via diary text that all three names refer to one woman, not to her (male?) relatives or to her mother. Feminine pronouns are used consistently throughout: "Nous laissons de Daillens chez elle" (034.0030, 1875-06-07); "elle rencontre Cassagnac" (080.0385, 1878-06-02); "une lettre où elle me prie de me soigner" (090.0185, 1880-11-01).

Relationship to Marie

Marie describes her warmly and as a peer despite the age/status gap implied by "Mme": on 1873-04-02 (003.0172) Marie writes that she "me parle comme à une égale d'âge, je l'aime assez" (speaks to me as an equal in age, I'm quite fond of her); on 1877-06-25 (072.0323), "Mme de Daillens m'aime, ce qui fait que je l'aime aussi... sa mère, toutes les deux sont de si bonnes créatures et spirituelles et instruites" (both mother and daughter are such good, witty, educated creatures). She is a recurring social presence — dinners, salon visits, dog-walks on the rue Saint-Florentin where she runs into Cassagnac (080.0385, 1878-06-02) — and later a correspondent and would-be travel companion: she writes to Marie urging her to take care of her health (090.0185, 1880-11-01), and Marie regrets not having gone to Spain with her as planned (093.0258, 1881-10-18: "je regrette bien de Daillens, nous devions aller en Espagne ensemble").

One self-description is recorded: she "prétend avoir la figure et l'esprit Louis XV" (claims to have the face and wit of Louis XV) — 080.0389, 1878-06-02.

References in Diary

Spans at least 1873-1881; representative dates: 1873-04-02, 1873-04-17, 1874-12-11, 1875-06-07, 1875-06-20, 1875-10-14, 1876-06-09, 1876-11-20, 1876-11-29/30-12-01, 1877-06-25, 1878 (multiple, carnets 077-084), 1879-12-03, 1880-05-23, 1880-11-01, 1880-11-14, 1880-12-01, 1880-12-08, 1881-02-06, 1881-02-22, 1881-10-01, 1881-10-18.

Identity and pseudonym

Her full name and maiden name are given by the printed indexes of the Mon Journal edition: t.8 "Daillens (Mme de), née de Mouzay"; t.13 "Daillens (Mme Marie de) née de Mouzay"; t.14 "Daillens (Mme Marie) née de Mouzay [Norscott Alexandrine, pseudonyme]", with a cross-entry "Norscott Alexandrine, pseudonyme de Mme de Daillens". This agrees with the diary text: feminine agreement throughout, and the "Mme de Mouzay et sa fille" pairing (034.0003-0007; 072 RSR note). "De Daillens" is therefore her married surname; no husband is named in the diary.

The pseudonym belongs to the feminist outing of December 1880. At the Droit des femmes meeting, Marie introduces her companion in the persona of a French widow of an Englishman: "De Daillens est française, veuve d'un Anglais M. Norscott. Moi d'origine étrangère mais élevée en France et je m'appelle Pauline Daria Orell" (090.0293, 1880-12-01). "M. Norscott" is thus the invented late husband of her persona, not a real man. The entry of 1880-12-08 ("Ce soir les citoyennes Alexandrine Norscott et Pauline Orell ont assisté aux travaux hebdomadaires de la Société le Droit des femmes", 090.0319 and its footnote) confirms the pairing: de Daillens is Alexandrine Norscott, Marie is Pauline (Daria) Orell. Marie also takes "Daria" as a painter's pseudonym (090.0293).