down the Rhone to
Marseilles; steam thence to Civita Vecchia, and then vetturino to Rome.
This is the route my father has made out for me; and, all things
considered, I think it is the best, and presents few difficulties or
inconveniences but those inevitable ones which must be encountered in
travelling anywhere at this season of the year.

I shall not see you before I go, my dearest Hal, but I shall be with you
before the Atlantic separates us once again; I know not how or where,
but look forward to some season of personal intercourse with you before
I return once more to America. The future, to be sure, lies misty enough
before me, but I have always a feeling of nearness to you which even the
Alps rising between us will not destroy, and I do not doubt to see you
again before many months are passed. I am going this evening to the Miss
Berrys'; they have asked me repeatedly to dine with them, and I have
not had a single disengaged day, and as they have taken the trouble of
coming to see after me bodily several times, I must pay my respects to
them before I go, as in duty bound....

I had a letter from T----; he had not yet received either of mine, and
knew nothing of Philadelphia or any of its inhabitants. He seems to
think the Oregon question very black, and that the aspect of affairs on
both sides of the water threatens war....

My father now talks of reading in every direction as soon as I am
gone--Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh; the latter place he told me he
thought he should go to in March; and then again, every now and then, he
says, as soon as he can settle his affairs he shall come after me, as he
should like to be in Rome at Easter to get the Pope's blessing. God
bless you with a better blessing, my dearest Hal!

Ever yours,
FANNY.

... Charles Greville has given me a book of his to read: it is very well
written and interests me a good deal; it is upon the policy of England
towards Ireland. He so habitually in conversation deals in the merest
gossip, and what appears to me to be the most worldly, and therefore
superficial, view of things, that I am agreeably surprised by the
ability displayed in his book; for though it is not in any way
extraordinary, it is in every way beyond what I expected from him.

[The direct railroad routes through France are now followed by all
travellers to Italy, and the p