Friday, January 20:
Bourbaki has been repulsed after all. Bismarck's reply to Count Chaudordy's note gave us great pleasure yesterday; one takes heart and feels confidence in the German cause when one sees such firmness. R. is glad that he has put an end to diplomatic hypocrisy.
I told R. I thought the main reason why the Alsatians were so afraid of becoming Germans again was the class distinctions which exist in Germany, whereas in France there really was freedom for the citizens. R. says this is indeed a drawback, but he hopes that the advent of an emperor will change things completely.
Seeing me today looking better, R. says: "You are my barometer. When you are well, I am happy. But when you are indisposed, I lose all my equilibrium."
The children greet us: "What happiness it is to have the children! As the years pass by, one becomes dull and despondent, and what comes from outside one regards with increasing indifference; it is a sort of preparation for death. Then come the children, who are so full of lively impressions, in whom everything is alive, and they link us with the world again."
He adds: "And all this you have done for me! Now at last the world must think there is something in me, since for me you abandoned everything and gave me everything!"
Boni is now developing in a way which gives us pleasure. To town with R. to fetch Lusch. Over his beer in the evening R. talks about Fidi's birth. After supper read Gibbon. Wrote to Prof. Weitzmann and E. Ollivier.