[B]
Such incidents, and the calm tenor of Madame Ossoli's confident
hopes.--the assured faith and unshaken bravery, with which she met and
turned aside the complicated troubles, rising sometimes into absolute
perils, of their last year in Italy,--seemed to have inspired her
husband with a feeling of respect for her, amounting to reverence.
This feeling, modifying the manifest tenderness with which he hung
upon her every word and look, and sought to anticipate her simplest
wishes, was luminously visible in the air and manner of his
affectionate devotion to her.
The frank and simple recognition of his wife's singular nobleness,
which he always displayed, was the best evidence that his own nature
was of a fine and noble strain. And those who knew him best, are, I
believe, unanimous in testifying that his character did in no respect
belie the evidence borne by his manly and truthful countenance, to
its warmth and its sincerity. He seemed quite absorbed in his wife and
child. I cannot remember ever to have found Madame Ossoli alone, on
those evenings when she remained at home. Her husband was always with
her. The picture of their room rises clearly on my memory.
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