She expressed no regret at our poverty, but offered her feeble
means. Her letter was a noble crown to her life of disinterested,
purifying love.
[Footnote A: This was when Margaret found Nino so ill at Rieti.]
FLORENCE.
The following notes respecting Margaret's residence in Florence were
furnished to the editors by Mr. W.H. Hurlbut.
I passed about six weeks in the city of Florence, during the months of
March and April, 1850. During the whole of that time Madame Ossoli was
residing in a house at the corner of the Via della Misericordia and
the Piazza Santa Maria Novella. This house is one of those large, well
built modern houses that show strangely in the streets of the stately
Tuscan city. But if her rooms were less characteristically Italian,
they were the more comfortable, and, though small, had a quiet,
home-like air. Her windows opened upon a fine view of the beautiful
Piazza; for such was their position, that while the card-board facade
of the church of Sta. Maria Novella could only be seen at an angle,
the exquisite Campanile rose fair and full against the sky. She
enjoyed this most graceful tower very much, and, I think, preferred it
even to Giotto's noble work.
Pages:
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432