with hope. Meanwhile he knewor rather he supposedthat the affianced pair were daily renewing
their mutual vows. Osmond at this moment showed himself little at Palazzo Crescentini; but Isabel met
him every day elsewhere, as she was free to do after their engagement had been made public. She
had taken a carriage by the month, so as not to be indebted to her aunt for the means of pursuing a
course of which Mrs Touchett disapproved, and she drove in the morning to the Cascine. This suburban
wilderness, during the early hours, was void of all intruders, and our young lady, joined by her lover in
its quietest part, strolled with him a while through the grey Italian shade and listened to the nightingales.