Ma chère Jeanne,
C’est impossible. I can no longer remain in dreary Brussels, en famille. And so I have made new plans.
Have I spoken to you of my father’s friend Elisée Reclus? He is a famous old radical who fought on the barricades for the Paris Commune. He and his circle are great believers in education for women. They have encouraged me to pursue the interests closest to my heart. Instead of resuming my studies in music, I intend to enroll in the College de France and study Sanskrit under the Tibetan scholar Professor Foucaux. Mrs. Morgan has arranged for me to lodge at the Paris headquarters of the Theosophist Society, and I will write again upon my arrival.
Numéro 30 boulevard Saint-Michel
Chère Jeanne,
So here I am in Paris, in the Latin Quarter, at the lodgings arranged for me by Mrs. Morgan. The Paris headquarters of the Theosophist Society occupies the third floor above a grocery shop. I think I must inform Mrs. Morgan that she has been deceived as to the nature of the accommodation. In comparison, my lodgings at the Supreme Gnosis seem the very height of luxury. There are no other members of the Society in residence at the moment, and I believe I understand the reason.
My room, which opens directly off the dining room, is sparsely furnished and quite shabby. There is no bathtub in the house, merely pitchers and a washbasin on a table in my room. Mme Jourdan, my landlady, has advised me to use the bath establishment down the street. Dinner last night was boiling water, in which there floated a few lonely fragments of potato and a soggy chunk of bread.
When I first arrived, I did not know whether to laugh or to weep. But then I told myself that this is an adventure, and I have never turned away from an adventure. And in any case, Jeanne, you know that I never cry.
Now I must go shopping, for the house is not well heated, and no one has offered me extra bedding. And after that I must look for another place to stay.
Alexandra