, as much as might be possible, her
days of helpfulness.

When in February, 1888, Sir James Paget told her that she had,
undoubtedly, got this disease, and would, probably, not be alive for
more than eighteen months or two years, she received the announcement
with the greatest calm and fortitude. The General says:--

"After hearing the verdict of the doctors, she drove home alone.
That journey can better be imagined than described. She told me
how, as she looked upon the various scenes through the cab windows,
it seemed to her as if sentence of death had been passed upon
everything; how she had knelt upon the cab floor and wrestled in
prayer; and how the realisation of our grief swept over her.

"I shall never forget, in this world or the next, that meeting. I
had been watching for the cab, and had run out to meet and help her
up the steps. She tried to smile upon me, through her tears; but,
drawing me into the room, she unfolded to me gradually the result
of her interview. I sat down speechless. She rose from her seat and
came and knelt beside me, saying, 'Do you know what was my first
thought? That I should not be there to nurse you, at your last
hour.'

"I was stunned. I felt as if the whole world was coming to a
standstill. She talked like a heroine, like an angel, to me. She
talked as she had never talked before. I could say nothing. I could
only kneel with her and try to pray.

"I was due in Holland for some large Meetings. I had arranged to
travel there that very night. She would not hear of my remaining at
home for her sake. Never shall I forget starting out that evening,
with the mournful tidings weighing like lead upon my heart. Oh, the
conflict of that night journey! I faced two large congregations,
and did my best, although it seemed to me that I spoke as one in a
dream. Leaving the Meetings to be continued by others, I returned
to London the following evening. And then followed, for me, the
most painful experience of my life. To go home was anguish. To be
away was worse. Life became a burden, almost too heavy to be borne,
until God in a very definite manner comforted my heart."

After this, there were two years and a half of such tortures for him to
bear! For some time, indeed, Mrs. Booth was still able occasionally to
take part with him, even in very large M