silent preparations to depart. Mr. Dalton had left before me. Madame
de Beaumont parted from me with the greatest reluctance, and indeed, I
was not over anxious to leave her so soon after her severe
bereavement, but my duty now lay elsewhere.

It was with the greatest profusion of gratitude and expressions of the
deepest appreciation and regard, that Bayard and his mother bade me
their last farewells. We went together to Hortense's grave in the
morning, and prayed awhile; I plucked one little sprig of early clover
that had struggled into bloom above her, and carried it away with me
as the last parting souvenir of my deeply lamented friend.

When I returned to the comfort and quiet of Cousin Bessie's home, from
which I had been estranged for many months, I began to feel the
re-action of all my recent exertions setting in. I struggled against
it with all the violence of a perverse inclination to combat it, but I
was baffled; I grew weaker day by day, and at length succumbed to the
depressing influence of a slow fever.

How good, and generous and thoughtful, dear Cousin Bessie proved
herself a thousand times over during my tedious illness. Never
complaining, never impatient, though at times I was so peevish and
trying, night after night she tended me with her own loving hands,
cheering me up when I was disposed to be gloomy, with the happiest of
predictions about my near recovery. At last, I began to show the
effects of her careful nursing, and was well enough to be helped
downstairs by Girly, or Zita or some one of that loving household--and
even here their untiring solicitude pursued me; there was no end to
the diversity of the distractions they provided for me, foremost among
which was an invitation written by Louis urging Arthur Campbell to