was filtering through the leaves.  The invalid left her carriage, set foot upon the green grass, reached up and plucked a little laburnum blossom ("for reasons"), saw the “strange people moving about like phantoms of life,” and felt that she alone and the idea of one who was absent were real—­“and Flush,” she adds with a touch of remorse, “and Flush a little too.”  Many drives and walks followed; at the end of May she feloniously gathered some pansies, the flowers of Paracelsus, and this notwithstanding the protest of Arabel, in the Botanical Gardens, and felt the unspeakable beauty of the common grass.  Later in the year wild roses were found at Hampstead; and on a memorable day the invalid—­almost perfect in health—­was guided by kind and learned Mrs Jameson through the pictures and statues of the poet Rogers’s collection.  On yet another occasion it was Mr Kenyon who drove her to see the strange new sight of the Great Western train coming in; the spectators procured chairs, but the rush of people and the earth-thunder of the engine almost overcame Miss Barrett’s nerves, which on a later trial shrank also from the more harmonious thunder of the organ of the Abbey.  Sundays came when she enjoyed the privilege of sitting if not in a pew at least in the secluded vestry of a Chapel, and joining unseen in those simple forms of prayer and praise which she valued most.  Altogether something like a miracle in the healing of the sick had been effected.

Money difficulty there was none.  Browning, it is true, was not in a position to undertake the expenses of even such a simple household economy as they both desired.  He was prepared to seek for any honourable service—­diplomatic or other—­if that were necessary.  But Miss Barrett was resolved against task-work which might divert him from his proper vocation as a poet.  And, thanks to the affection of an uncle, she had means—­some L400 a year, capable of considerable increase by re-investment of the principal—­which were enough for two persons who could be content with plain living in Italy.  Browning still urged that he should be the bread-winner; he implored that her money should be made over to her own family, so that no prejudice against his action could be founded on any mercenary feeling; but she remained firm, and would consent only to its transference to her two sisters in the event of his death.  And so the matter rested and was dismissed from the thoughts of both the friends.

Having the great patience of love, Browning would not put the least pressure upon Miss Barrett as to the date of their marriage; if waiting long was for her good, then he would wait.  But matters seemed tending towards the desired end.  In January he begged her to “begin thinking”; before that month had closed it was agreed that they should look forward to the late summer or early autumn as the time of their departure to Italy.  Not until March would Miss Barrett permit Browning to fetter his free will by any engagement; then, to satisfy