She was staying at his house that 14th April, 1865, when he was
murdered, and was consequently selected to execute the monument after
his death. She hesitated for a long time before giving up the modest,
but certain, position she held at the time in a post-office; but, as
others believed in her talent, she came to Europe, stayed first in
Paris, where, to her delight, she made the acquaintance of Gustave Dore,
and where she modelled a really excellent bust of Pere Hyacinthe,
visited London, Berlin, Munich, Florence, and settled down in Rome.
There she received plenty of orders, had, moreover, obtained permission
to execute a bust of Cardinal Antonelli, was already much looked up to,
and well-to-do. In a few weeks she was returning to America.
As she found pleasure in talking to me, she exclaimed without more ado:
"I will stay with you," said a few polite things to me, and made me
promise that I would travel with her to Rome from the place where we
were obliged to leave the train, the railway having been broken up to
prevent the Italian troops entering the Papal States. At Treni a Danish
couple got into the train, a mediocre artist and his wife, and with
national astonishment and curiosity watched the evident intimacy between
the young foreigner and myself, concerning which every Scandinavian in
Rome was informed a few days later.
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