ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.

[Illustration]

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Shortly after this date, on April 17, Mrs. Browning’s father died.  In the course of the previous summer an attempt made by a relative to bring about a reconciliation between him and his daughters was met with the answer that they had ‘disgraced his family;’ and, although he professed to have ‘forgiven’ them, he refused all intercourse, removed his family out of town when the Brownings came thither, and declined to give his daughter Henrietta’s address to Mr. Kenyon’s executor, who was instructed to pay her a small legacy.  A further attempt at reconciliation was made by Mrs. Martin only a few months before his death, but had no better success.  His pride stood in the way of his forgiveness to the end.

On receiving the news of his death, the following letter was written by Robert Browning to Mrs. Martin; but it was not until two months later that Mrs. Browning was able to bring herself to write to anyone outside her own family.

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Robert Browning to Mrs. Martin

Florence:  May 3, 1857.

My dear Mrs. Martin,—­Truest thanks for your letter.  We had the intelligence from George last Thursday week, having been only prepared for the illness by a note received from Arabel the day before.  Ba was sadly affected at first; miserable to see and hear.  After a few days tears came to her relief.  She is now very weak and prostrated, but improving in strength of body and mind:  I have no fear for the result.  I suppose you know, at least, the very little that we know; and how unaware poor Mr. Barrett was of his imminent death:  ‘he bade them,’ says Arabel, ’make him comfortable for the night, but a moment before the last.’  And he had dismissed her and her aunt about an hour before, with a cheerful or careless word about ‘wishing them good night.’  So it is all over now, all hope of better things, or a kind answer to entreaties such as I have seen Ba write in the bitterness of her heart.  There must have been something in the organisation, or education, at least, that would account for and extenuate all this; but it has caused grief enough, I know; and now here is a new grief not likely to subside very soon.  Not that Ba is other than reasonable and just to herself in the matter:  she does not reproach herself at all; it is all mere grief, as I say, that this should have been so; and I sympathise with her there.

George wrote very affectionately to tell me; and dear, admirable Arabel sent a note the very next day to prove to Ba that there was nothing to fear on her account.  Since then we have heard nothing.  The funeral was to take place in Herefordshire.  We had just made up our minds to go on no account to England this year.  Ba felt the restraint on her too horrible to bear.  I will, or she will, no doubt, write and tell you of herself; and you must write, dear Mrs. Martin, will you not?