. Italian letters of a diplomat's wife, January-May, 1880, February-April, 1904 . ed last night at the Black Spanish Embassy withthe Cardenas. It was very pleasant. We had two cardi-nals—Bibra and a Spanish cardinal whose name I didntcatch; he had a striking face, keen and stern, didnt talkmuch at dinner—Desprez and his son, the Sulmonas,Bandinis, Primolis (she is nee Bonaparte), dAulnays,all the personnel of the French Embassy, and one or twoyoung men from the other embassies; quite a small din-ner. W. took in Princess Sulmona and enjoyed it verymuch. Primoli took me, and I had Prince Bandini
. Italian letters of a diplomat's wife, January-May, 1880, February-April, 1904 . ed last night at the Black Spanish Embassy withthe Cardenas. It was very pleasant. We had two cardi-nals—Bibra and a Spanish cardinal whose name I didntcatch; he had a striking face, keen and stern, didnt talkmuch at dinner—Desprez and his son, the Sulmonas,Bandinis, Primolis (she is nee Bonaparte), dAulnays,all the personnel of the French Embassy, and one or twoyoung men from the other embassies; quite a small din-ner. W. took in Princess Sulmona and enjoyed it verymuch. Primoli took me, and I had Prince Bandini onthe other side. Both men were pleasant enough. Allthe women except me were in high dresses, and Primoliasked me how I had the conscience to appear decol-letee and show bare shoulders to cardinals. I told himw^e werent told that we should meet any cardinals, andthat in these troubled days I thought a woman in fulldress was such a minor evil that I didnt believe theywould even notice what one had on; but he seemed tothink they were observant, says all churchmen of any de-. Pope Pius IX. i88o] OF A DIPLOMATS WIFE 145 nomination are. Their life is so inactive that they gettheir experience from what they see and hear. I talkeda few minutes to Princess Bandini after dinner, but shewent away almost immediately, as she had music (Tosti)at home. We promised to go to her later—I wantedvery much to hear Tosti. The evening was short. Thecardinals always go away early—at (we dined , and every one was punctual). As long as theystayed the men made a circle around them. They aretreated with much deference (we women were left toour own devices). W. said the conversation was notvery interesting, they talk with so much reserve said the Spaniard hardly spoke, and Cardinal Bibratalked antiquities, the excavations still to be made in Tus-culum, etc. I think they go out very little now, onlyoccasionally to Black embassies. Their position is ofcourse much changed since
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