nature too; one shall not exclude the other. This Florence
seems divine as we pass the bridges, and my husband, who knows
everything, is to teach and show me all the great wonders, so that I
am reasonably impatient to try my advantages. His kind regards to you
both, and my best love, dearest friends....

Your very affectionate
BA.

_To Mrs. Jameson_
Florence: May 12, [1847].

I was afraid, we both were afraid for you, dearest friend, when we
saw the clouds gather and heard the rain fall as it did that day at
Florence. It seemed impossible that you should be beyond the evil
influence, should you have travelled ever so fast; but, after all,
a storm in the Apennines, like many a moral storm, will be better
perhaps than a calm to look back upon. We talked of you and thought of
you, and missed you at coffee time, and regretted that so pleasant a
week (for us) should have gone so fast, as fast as a dull week, or,
rather, a good deal faster. Dearest friend, do believe that we _felt_
your goodness in Coming to us--in making us an object--before you left
Italy; it fills up the measure of goodness and kindness for which we
shall thank and love you all our lives. Never fancy that we can forget
you or be less touched by the memory of what you have been to us in
affection and sympathy--never. And don't _you_ lose sight of _us_; do
write often, and do, _do_ make haste and come back to Italy, and
then make use of us in any and every possible way as house-takers
or house-mates, for we are ready to accept the lowest place or the
highest. The week you gave us would be altogether bright and glad if
it had not been for the depression and anxiety on your part. May God
turn it all to gain and satisfaction in some unlooked-for way. To be a
_road-maker_ is weary work, even across the Apennines of life. We
have not science enough for it if we have strength, which we haven't
either. Do you remember how Sindbad shut his eyes and let himself
be carried over the hills by an eagle? _That_ was better than to set
about breaking stones. Also what you could do you have done; you have
finished your part, and the sense of a fulfilled duty is in itself
satisfying--is and must be. My sympathies go with you entirely, while
I wish your dear Gerardine to be happy; I wish it from my heart....
Just after you left us arrived our box with the precious deeds, which
are thrown into the cabinet for want of witnesses. And then Robert
has had a letter from Mr. F