At Florence there were no celebrities; none
at least that one had heard of. Since her brother's marriage her
impatience had greatly increased; she was so sure his wife had a
more brilliant life than herself. She was not so intellectual as
Isabel, but she was intellectual enough to do justice to Rome-not to
the ruins and the catacombs, not even perhaps to the monuments and
museums, the church ceremonies and the scenery; but certainly to all
the rest. She heard a great deal about her sister-in-law and knew
perfectly that Isabel was having a beautiful time. She had indeed seen
it for herself on the only occasion on which she had enjoyed the
hospitality of Palazzo Roccanera. She had spent a week there during
the first winter of her brother's marriage, but she had not been
encouraged to renew this satisfaction. Osmond didn't want her-that she
was perfectly aware of; but she would have gone all the same, for
after all she didn't care two straws about Osmond. It was her
husband who wouldn't let her, and the money question was always a
trouble. Isabel had been very nice; the Countess, who had liked her
sister-in-law from the first, had not been blinded by envy to Isabel's
personal merits.
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