Letter from Mrs. Martin CF 88
To Mrs Guerin
March 9, 1873.
I am taking advantage of a moment of calm to reply to your last letter. I have been so busy and so unhappy for a fortnight that I have no rest day or night: my little girl is ill, she has enteritis and I am afraid of losing her.
She is, however, still cheerful; as soon as she has a little respite, she laughs heartily. Despite this her face has changed, I find her very pale since Thursday and yet she hasn't lost weight.
I would have a lot to tell you if I had a little more time, but I'm all alone looking after the little one who's currently sleeping, so I'm rushing as much as possible.
However, I want to amuse you with the story of a costume ball given by Mme Y... and which caused so much noise in Alençon, everyone is talking about it; it was magnificent, admirable, unparalleled! Since Alençon exists, we had never seen that.
Mrs. Y. was Queen and had a golden crown with a star-studded veil. Mrs. O. represented Madness; she had on a yellow calico dress, which was so tight as to make her quite ridiculous. When she saw herself in this outfit and noticed the richness of the costumes of the other ladies, she no longer knew where to hide.
I know all these details from people who attended the famous ball, which ended at five o'clock in the morning. To end it, there was a splendid dinner, after which all the guests went to bed.
It was necessary to support the floor of the salons, otherwise the dancers would have fallen into the room below. I forgot to tell you that these salons were adorned with garlands of flowers and branches of ivy. It's a shame to go to so much trouble and spend so much money to be made fun of.
I'm leaving you, my dear sister, I don't have time to write you more about it, I wanted to cheer you up a bit and yet I don't really feel like it, I assure you.
Pray to the good Lord to keep my little Thérèse for me; I still have a little hope, because she is not sick enough not to recover. Tell Jeanne and Marie that they are praying for their little cousin; the good Lord listens to the prayers of children.
