Inside the story
Meet Catharine Alan
Miss Alan is one of two timid, proper elderly sisters staying at the Pension Bertolini in Florence. She and her sister value good breeding and are scandalized by the Emersons, whose unconventional behavior disrupts the pension’s social order.
On the page
A small, genteel elderly spinster with shawls hung over the back of her chair, dressed with prim old-fashioned decorum.








