looked forward to by Mrs. Browning, who had never had cause to yearn for
her old home in Wimpole Street, and who could anticipate no
reconciliation with her father, who had persistently refused even to
open her letters to him, and had forbidden the mention of her name in
his home circle.

Bayard Taylor, in his travel-sketches published under the title "At Home
and Abroad," has put on record how he called upon the Brownings one
afternoon in September, at their rooms in Devonshire Street, and found
them on the eve of their return to Italy.

In his cheerful alertness, self-possession, and genial suavity Browning
impressed him as an American rather than as an Englishman, though there
can be no question but that no more thorough Englishman than the poet
ever lived. It is a mistake, of course, to speak of him as a typical
Englishman: for typical he was not, except in a very exclusive sense.
Bayard Taylor describes him in reportorial fashion as being apparently
about seven-and-thirty (a fairly close guess), with his dark hair
already streaked with grey about the temples: with a fair complexion,
just tinged with faintest olive: eyes large, clear, and grey, and nose
strong and well-cut, mouth full and rather broad, and chin pointed,
though not prominent: about the medium height, strong in the shoulders,
but slender at the waist, with movements expressive of a combination of
vigour and elasticity. With due allowance for the passage of
five-and-thirty years, this description would not be inaccurate of
Browning the septuagenarian.

They did not return direct to Italy after all, but wintered in Paris
with Robert Browning the elder, who had retired to a small house in a
street leading off the Champs Elysees. The pension he drew from the Bank
of England was a small one, but, with what he otherwise had, was
sufficient for him to live in comfort. The old gentleman's health was
superb to the last, for he died in 1866 without ever having known a
day's illness.

Spring came out and found them still in Paris, Mrs. Browning
enthusiastic about Napoleon III. and interested in spiritualism: her
husband serenely sceptical concerning both. In the summer they again
went to London: but they appear to have seen more of Kenyon and other
intimate friends than to have led a busy social life. Kenyon's
friendship and good company never ceased to have a charm for both poets.
Mrs. Browning loved him almost as a brother: her husband told Bayard
Taylor