No one could have
possessed so many avenues of direct information from both
sides. While she was the friend and correspondent of Mazzini,
and knew the springs of action of his party; through her
husband's family and connections, she knew the other view; so
that, whatever might be the value of her deductions, her facts
could not have been other than of highest worth. Together,
Margaret and Ossoli went to the meetings of either side; and
to her he carried all the flying reports of the day, such as
he had heard in the cafe, or through his friends.
"In a short time, we went to Naples, and Margaret, in the
course of a few months, to Aquila and Rieti. Meanwhile, we
heard from her often by letter, and wrote to urge her to join
us in our villa at Sorrento. During this summer, she wrote
constantly upon her history of the Italian movement, for which
she had collected materials through the past winter. We did
not again meet, until the following spring, March, 1849, when
we went from Florence back to Rome. Once more we were with
her, then, in most familiar every-day intercourse, and as at
this time a change of government had taken place,--the Pope
having gone to Molo di Gaeta.
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