Paris, Wednesday
January 20, 1886

My beloved little woman

I acknowledge with pleasure the open admission of the cardinal baseness of your actions, for tradition has always interpreted a semiconfession on the part of a “lady” in this way, and even a beloved fianceée retains enough of the unassailable and unchangeable character of a “lady” for the man who loves her. You will allow me quietly to observe that you have been wrong on almost every point and without good reason, and have paid less attention to the whole business than you usually do to things concerning us both. Furthermore, you must allow me to point out that you could easily have changed everything according to your desire if only you had informed me about it. It is already quite some time now since I