To the great trees above all." The sculptor Story and his family, whose acquaintance they had made in Florence before Casa Guidi had become their home, were their neighbours at the Baths, and Robert Lytton was for a time their guest.
Browning worked at his _Men and Women_, of which his wife was able to report in the autumn that it was in an advanced state.

_In a Balcony_ was the most important achievement of the summer.

"The scene of the declaration in _By the Fireside_" Mrs Orr informs us, "was laid in a little adjacent mountain-gorge to which Browning walked or rode." Only a few weeks were given to Florence.

In perfect autumnal weather the occupants of Casa Guidi started for Rome.

The delightful journey occupied eight days, and on the way the church of Assisi was seen, and the falls of Terni--"that passion of the waters,"-- so Mrs Browning describes it, "which makes the human heart seem so still." They entered Rome in a radiant mood.--"Robert and Penini singing." An apartment had been taken for them by their friends the Storys in the Via Bocca di Leone, and all was bright, warm, and full of comfort.