t was thought at the time to be a stumble; it was in all
likelihood a premonitory stroke of palsy. From that day there fell upon
her an abiding panic fear; that glib, superficial part of us that speaks
and reasons could allege no cause, science itself could find no mark of
danger, a son's solicitude was laid at rest; but the eyes of the body
saw the approach of a blow, and the consciousness of the body trembled
at its coming. It came in a moment; the brilliant, spirited old lady
leapt from her bed, raving. For about six months this stage of her
disease continued with many painful and many pathetic circumstances; her
husband, who tended her, her son, who was unwearied in his visits,
looked for no change in her condition but the change that comes to all.
"Poor mother," I find Fleeming writing, "I cannot get the tones of her
voice out of my head.... I may have to bear this pain for a long time;
and so I am bearing it and sparing myself whatever pain seems useless.
Mercifully I do sleep, I am so weary that I must sleep." And again
later: "I could do very well if my mind did not revert to my poor
mother's state whenever I stop attending to matters immediately before
me." And the next day: "I can never feel a moment's pleasure without
having my mother's suffering recalled by the very feeling of happiness.
A pretty young face recalls hers by contrast--a careworn face recalls it
by association. I tell you, for I can speak to no one else; but do not
suppose that I wilfully let my mind dwell on sorrow."

In the summer of the next year the frenzy left her; it left her stone
deaf and almost entirely aphasic, but with some remains of her old sense
and courage. Stoutly she set to work with dictionaries, to recover her
lost tongues; and had already made notable progress when a third stroke
scattered her acquisitions. Thenceforth, for nearly ten years, stroke
followed upon stroke, each still further jumbling the threads of her
intelligence, but by degrees so gradual and with such partiality of loss
and of survival, that her precise state was always and to the end a
matter of dispute. She still remembered her friends; she still loved to
learn news of them upon the slate; she still read and marked the list of
the subscription library; she still took an interest in the choice of a
play for the theatricals, and could remember and find parallel passages;
but alongside of these surviving powers, were lapses as remarkable, she
misbehaved like