ABSTRACT
Either Henry had not taken the trouble to become fully acquainted with the temperament of his vivacious sister-in-law, or he was ill-equipped to assess her character. When she wrote to him on December 9 asking for his help, he immediately made arrangements for Louise to retire to the Ursuline Convent of Santa Cecilia in Rome, where his mother had once sought sanctuary. In the meantime Charles fussed, fumed, and got drunk, publicly denouncing Alfieri as a seducer and threatening to have Geohagan shot for his part in Louise’s flight. Sir Horace Mann enjoyed the squalid gossip along with the rest of Florence. Henry was a total innocent when it came to affairs of the heart between men and women. Although all Rome knew and relished the gossip surrounding Alfieri and his sister-in-law, the Cardinal seemed to be unaware of it.
