The gallery and the churches
kept me pretty busy, and the reader will judge of my surprise one day,
at hearing my own name uttered on a pretty high key, by a female
voice, in the Duomo, or Cathedral of the place. On turning, I found
myself in the presence of the Brighams! I was overwhelmed with
questions in a minute. Where had I been? Where was Talcott? Where was
the ship? When did I sail, and whither did I sail? After this came the
communications. _They_ had been to Paris; had seen the French
Consul, and had dined with Mr. R. N. Livingston, then negotiating the
treaty of Louisiana; had seen the Louvre; had been to Geneva; had seen
the Lake; had seen Mont Blanc; had crossed Mont Cenis; had been at
Milan; Rome; had seen the Pope; Naples; had seen Vesuvius; had been at
Paestum; had come back to Florence, and _nous voici!_ Glad enough
was I, when I got them fairly within the gates of the City of the
Lily. Next came America; from which part of the world they received
such delightful letters! One from Mrs. Jonathan Little, a Salem lady
then residing in New York, had just reached them. It contained four
sheets, and was full of _news._ Then commenced the details; and I
was compelled to listen to a string of gossip that connected nearly
all the people of mark, my informants had ever heard of in the great
_Commercial_ Emporium that was to be.
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