She begs me to say that she has
begun a letter to Emily, and hopes soon to finish it. We had
thought her gaining ground, but she is sadly pulled down. Fiat
voluntas.'
The letter, which had been begun, never came; but, after three long
weeks, there was one from the dear patient herself, mentioning her
illness, and declaring that it was so comfortable to be allowed to
be tired, and to go nowhere and see nothing except the fragment of
beautiful blue sky, and the corner of a campanile, and the flowers
Anne brought in daily.
As soon as she could be moved, they took her to Genoa, where she
revived enough to believe that she should be well if she were at
home again, and to win from her parents a promise to take her to
Hillside as soon as the spring winds were over. So anxious was she
that, as soon as there was any safety in travelling, the party began
moving northwards, going by sea to Marseilles to avoid the Corniche,
so early in the year. There were many fluctuations, and it was only
her earnest yearning for home and strong resolution that could have
made her parents persevere; but at last they were at Hillside, just
after Whitsuntide, in the last week of May.
Frank Fordyce walked over to see us on the very evening after their
arrival. He was much altered, his kindly handsome face looked
almost as if he had gone through an illness; and, indeed, apart from
all his anxiety and sorrow, he had pined in foreign parts for his
human flock, as well as his bullocks and his turnips.
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