perfection of everything.

At last I have found what I have desired without knowing it. To live
is Paris--Paris means to live!

I was tormenting myself because I did not know what I wanted. Now I
see it before me. I know what I want. To move from Nice to Paris. To
have an apartment, furnish it, have horses as we do in Nice. To go
into society through the Russian ambassador. That, that is what I
want.

How happy we are when we know what we want! But an idea has come to
me--I believe I am ugly. It is frightful!

To-day is the first time we have seen the Bois, the Jardin
d'Acclimatation, and the Trocadéro, from which we had a view of all
Paris. Really, I have never in my life beheld anything so beautiful
as the Bois de Boulogne. It is not a wild beauty, but it is elegant,
sumptuous.

Since Toulon, I have been the prey of a great sorrow. All places are
indifferent to me, except Paris, which I adore, and Nice.

At last! We have reached this spot. Princess G----and W---- met us.

Mamma was not there. We asked for her and were told that she was a
little indisposed. The truth is that she fell out of bed and hurt
her leg. We arrived. I made her sit in the dining-room. An arrival
is always confused. People talk and answer, all speaking at once.