She thought Ralph's judgements distorted by his trials, but she flattered herself she had learned to make allowance for that.
"Do I know him ?" said her cousin.

"Oh, yes, I 'know' him; not well, but on the whole enough.

I've never cultivated his society, and he apparently has never found mine indispensable to his happiness.

Who is he, what is he?
He's a vague, unexplained American who has been living these thirty years, or less, in Italy.

Why do I call him unexplained?
Only as a cover for my ignorance; I don't know his antecedents, his family, his origin.