church I sat beside the King and cried quietly into my wrap all the
evening," The last words in her letter were, "Tell me all your
troubles, and be sure you take care of yourselves." She never received
a reply. Mrs. Slessor had died suddenly and peacefully at the turn of
the year. She had been nursed by loving hands, whilst her medical
attendant and the minister of the Congregational Church, and his wife,
showed her much kindness. Three months later Janie also passed away,
and was laid beside her mother in Topsham cemetery, the deacons and
members of the church and many friends attending and showing honour to
one whom they had learned to love for her own sake as well as for her
sister's.

Mary was inconsolable. "I, who all my life have been caring and
planning and living for them, am left, as it were, stranded and alone."
A sense of desolation and loneliness unsupportable swept over her.
After all the sorrow that had crowded upon her she felt no desire to do
anything. "There is no one to write and tell all my stories and
troubles and nonsense to." One solace remained. "Heaven is now nearer
to me than Britain, and no one will be anxious about me if I go up-
country." It was characteristic of her that the same night she heard of
her mother's death she conducted her regular prayer-meeting: she felt
that her mother would have wished her to do so, and she went through
the service with a breaking heart, none knowing what had happened.

She wrote hungrily for all details of the last hours, and specified the
keepsakes she wished to have. "I would like something to look at," was
her repeated cry. To her friend who had taken charge of the home she
was for ever grateful. In the midst of her grief she was thoughtful for
her welfare and attended to the minutest details, even repaying the
sixpences expended for the postage of her letters to Calabar. All