I was on the fifth floor.
"I have been surprised to see that he made severe personal remarks in
his journal, for in the three months that I knew him I never heard an
unkind word; he was always courteous, gentle, and retiring. Mrs.
Hawthorne said she took a wifely pride in his having no small vices. Mr.
Hawthorne said to Miss S., 'I have yet to find the first fault in Mrs.
Hawthorne.'
"One day Mrs. Hawthorne came to my room, held up an inkstand, and said,
'The new book will be begun to-night.'
"This was 'The Marble Faun.' She said, 'Mr. Hawthorne writes after every
one has gone to bed. I never see the manuscript until it is what he
calls _clothed_'.... Mrs. H. says he never knows when he is writing a
story how the characters will turn out; he waits for _them_ to influence
_him_.
"I asked her if Zenobia was intended for Margaret Fuller, and she said,
'No;' but Mr. Hawthorne admitted that Margaret Fuller seemed to be
around him when he was writing it.
"London, August. We went out for our first walk as soon as breakfast was
over, and we walked on Regent street for hours, looking in at the shop
windows. The first view of the street was beautiful, for it was a misty
morning, and we saw its length fade away as if it had no end. I like it
that in our first walk we came upon a crowd standing around 'Punch.' It
is a ridiculous affair, but as it is as much a 'peculiar institution' as
is Southern slavery, I stopped and listened, and after we came into the
house Miss S.
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