It was commonly believed that Brentford would not have committed
himself so deeply if it had not been for his wife's influence;
and, indeed, she was one of those women whom it is difficult to
withstand. Her enthusiasm was contagious; and when one was in her
company one felt that "the Cause," as she always called it without
qualifying epithet, was the one thing worth thinking of and living
for. As a girl, she had caught from Mrs. Browning, and Swinburne, and
Jessie White-Mario, and the authoress of _Aspromonte_, a passionate
zeal for Italian unity and freedom; and, when she married, her
enthusiasm fired her husband. They became sworn allies both of
Garibaldi and of Mazzini, and through them were brought into close,
though mysterious, relations with the revolutionary party in Italy
and also in France. They witnessed the last great act of the Papacy
at the Vatican Council; and then, early in 1870, they established
themselves in Paris. French society was at that moment in a strange
state of tension and unrest. The impending calamity of the Franco-German
War was not foreseen; but everyone knew that the Imperial throne was
rocking; that the soil was primed by Secret Societies; and that
all the elements of revolution were at hand, and needed only some
sudden concussion to stir them into activity. This was a condition
which exactly suited my cousin Evelyn Brentford. She was "at the
height of the circumstances," and she gathered round her, at her
villa on the outskirts of Paris, a society partly political, partly
Bohemian, and wholly Red. "Do come," she wrote, "and stay with
us at Easter. I can't promise you a Revolution; but it's quite
on the cards that you may come in for one. Anyhow, you will see
some fun." I had some difficulty in inducing my parents (sound
Whigs) to give the necessary permission; but they admitted that
at seventeen a son must be trusted, and I went off rejoicing to
join the Brentfords at Paris. Those three weeks, from the 12th