ds
on a defect of intellect rather than on an excess of the adoring
faculty. The latter cannot, I think, be too fully developed. How I
shall like you to see our Wiedeman! He is a radiant little creature,
really, yet he won't talk; he does nothing but gesticulate, only
making his will and pleasure wonderfully clear and supreme, I assure
you. He's a tyrant, ready made for your theory. If your book is
'better than I expect,' what will it be? God bless you! Be well, and
love me, and write to me, for I am your ever affectionate

BA.

_To Mrs. Martin_
Florence: January 30, 1851.

Here I am at last, dearest friend. But you forget how you told me,
when you wrote your 'long letter,' that you were going away into chaos
somewhere, and that your address couldn't be known yet. It was this
which made me delay the answer to that welcome letter--and to begin
to 'put off' is fatal, as perhaps you know. Now forgive me, and I will
behave better in future, indeed....

I am quite well, and looking well, they say; but the frightful
illness of the autumn left me paler and thinner long after the perfect
recovery. The physician told Robert afterwards that few women would
have recovered at all; and when I left Siena I was as able to
walk, and as well in every respect as ever, notwithstanding
everything--think, for instance, of my walking to St. Miniato, here
in Florence! You remember, perhaps, what that pull is. I dare say you
heard from Henrietta how we enjoyed our rustication at Siena. It is
pleasant even to look back on it. We were obliged to look narrowly
at the economies, more narrowly than usual; but the cheapness of the
place suited the occasion, and the little villa, like a mere tent
among the vines, charmed us, though the doors didn't shut, and though
(on account of the smallness) Robert and I had to whisper all our talk
whenever Wiedeman was asleep. Oh, I wish you were in Italy. I wish
you had come here this winter which has been so mild, and which, with
ordinary prudence, would certainly have suited dear Mr. Martin.... I
tried to dissuade the Peytons from making the experiment, through the
fear of its not answering.... We can't get them into society, you
see, because we are out of it, having struggled to keep out of it
with hands and feet, and partially having succeeded, knowing scarcely
anybody except bringers of letters of introduction, and those chiefly
Americans and not residents in Florence. The other day, however, Mrs.