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25 September 1908 — Ca’ Capello, Venice | |
Friday. 25th [September 1908]. This mornings Gazzetta had an account of the suicide of the poor young Frenchman & saying a letter to me had been found at his hotel—that I knew nothing about him &c &c. I was vexed at this publicity & telephoned to ask Sr Malagola to come & see me & he did so when we were at breakfast. He agreed with me that the newspaper reporting was very impertinent but said they were incorrigible & it was better to take no notice of them. He said he would find out at the Questura the truth about the letter & later he telephoned to me that the French Consul had all the documents & would forward it to me. After lunch I was writing in the library when a letter was brought to me wh proved to be from the young man & a friend saying they were desirous of seeing my pictures & signed by both men. It was rather dreadful getting a letter from a man just dead—stranger tho’ he was. After lunch Sra Malagola came to see me—very unhappy at the conduct of her husband & son—the latter living a dissolute life & the former never seeing her & always going about with another lady! Poor thing she looked ill & worried. Bianca Arbib came also to show Mrs Ady some of the old Italian letters she is about to publish. At 5 Mr Merrick came & brought Canon Ragg to stay with me. Mr & Mrs Ady were out at Mrs Johnston’s garden—Ciceley was with us & we had tea. Afterwards I took a walk with Mr Merrick. It was a strong scirocco very hot & heavy weather. This morning Mr Royon came to talk over with me his plans—& what I had suggested to his wife the other day. He asked £75 a year more & said he would then pay all the expenses for their holiday & journeys. I promised to refer to the Committee of the Institute & let him know. Just as we were going to bed a note came from Princess Charlotte Meiningen introducing a Mrs Hillman to me– I wrote inviting her to tea on Sunday. Had several other introductions today & a visit from Mrs Hunter & her sister Miss Ethel Smyth the musician. English tourists are here in great numbers now. It came on to rain heavily at bed time & was a little cooler. | |
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