me muffetees ready for you,
but must do them afterwards, as I have had to knit two under-vests
as an order, and have not yet finished the second. You cannot think
how wonderfully well papa got through the ordination. Dr. Heurtley,
who presided, was quite astonished. Only think of it, H. is coming
on Monday for a week. I am so very glad of it. No time for more,
your loving sister,
BESSIE GILBERT.

Bishop Gilbert's health had slowly but very steadily declined after the
death of his wife in 1863. He was surrounded by the loving care of
daughters devoted to him. But the loss of the friend and partner of his
whole life was one from which he never recovered.

Bessie was the only member of the family not keenly alive to the failure
of her father's health. Partly, no doubt, owing to her blindness, and
partly to the effort that the Bishop always made to be bright and
cheerful in the society of his "dear child Bessie," she did not perceive
how seriously the burden of work and responsibility told upon him. The
sisters at home were glad to spare her the anxiety which they felt, and
she passed the Christmas time of 1869-70 without alarm and without that
sense of impending loss which was weighing heavily upon others. When at
last the blow came it fell suddenly, and fell heavily upon her, and was
not softened by any sense of relief that the burden of his life was
removed.

She had gone to London for the Deputation to Lord de Grey on the 10th
of February 1870, and was still there when she was summoned to
Chichester by telegram on Sunday the 20th.

The sisters at home had been conscious for some days of a greater sense
of uneasiness than usual, but there was nothing definite to take hold
of. The Bishop came down as usual to the dining-room on Friday the 18th.
On Saturday the 19th he kept his room for the early part of the day, and
dined in the morning-room, that room adjoining his own in which Bessie
used to spend so much time with her mother when first they went to
Chichester. The absent sons and daughters were informed of this failure
of strength on Saturday morning, but there were no alarming symptoms
until the evening. Then and on the following morning, Sunday the 20th,
telegrams summoned them to Chichester without delay. Bessie reached the
palace about 10 P.M. on Sunday. Her father recognised her, but he was by
that time too weak to speak. There were no last words, and h