seeing him, and wrote immediately
begging Mrs. Prentiss to come with him. She, ever ready to sacrifice her
own ease for the sake of giving pleasure to others, and knowing that the
15th of May would be my 70th anniversary, and that I perfectly longed to
see her, took the risk of personal suffering upon herself to satisfy my
earnest desire, and came. They arrived on the 13th in the late afternoon
train. She was so bright and cheerful it was difficult to notice any
traces of the weariness which she must have felt.

We passed a delightful evening, and as Dr. P. was to spend a part of the
next day in New Haven, we formed a plan for Mrs. Prentiss and me to
go to Norwich at the same time and make a brief visit to our mutual
friends, the Misses Gilman. Mr. Washburn telegraphed to them that we
were coming. On arriving at New London we found, to our dismay, that we
had been misinformed in regard to the trains, and that the one we had
taken did not connect with the one to Norwich, which had been gone two
hours. So there we were, left alone on the platform, strangers in the
place, with no means of either going on or returning. What should we do?
Our first thought was to procure, if possible, some conveyance to take
us to Norwich and back; but this we found could not be done, for want of
time, the distance between the two cities being fourteen miles or more.
Fortunately for us, a young lad appeared, who promised to take us to our
friends in Norwich, allow us half an hour to spend with them, and drive
to the station there in time for the return train to New London and East
River. He looked so honest and true that we felt we could trust him, and
we acceded to his terms at once. As soon as he could get his carriage
ready we started off on our untried way.

It began at the foot of a long hill, and continued up and down over a
succession of the same kind, with very rare exceptions of a level space
between them, through the whole distance. But the scenery was so varied
and beautiful, we thought if our only object in setting out had been a
drive, we could not have chosen one more charming. The weather was fine,
and dear Mrs. Prentiss in her happiest mood. As for me, nothing marred
my enjoyment but fear that the fatigue would be too much for her, and an
undercurrent of anxiety lest by some mishap we should fail to re-arrive
at the home-station in time to meet our husbands who would be waiting
for us. But if she had any such misgivings nothi