ot say that I take much interest in things yet, and am often
oppressed with a feeling of the dreary length of the days without
seeing him or hearing anything about him; but as you so kindly say
in your letter I shall hope, when able to do so, to work better
than I have done if God will grant me help to strengthen me for
this work. I did go up from hence to London for the day for our May
Committee, and am very glad I did so, and made a beginning of
taking up the work again. I have also done a little towards it in
other ways, but just now my own nice maid is having a little
holiday, and instead Mrs. Gadney is with me; she cannot write much,
while I am not up to much business yet. Lucy, I am sure, would send
you her love, but I am writing in my room. She would have written
to you, but that I said I would do so myself, as I had intended for
some time to write and thank you for your very affectionate
letter.... Believe me, my dear Mrs. Burrowes, yours affectionately,
BESSIE GILBERT.

Miss Mackenzie, sister of Bishop Mackenzie, wrote:

I shall never forget his kind fatherliness and his beautiful
courtesy and his loving thoughtfulness for every one. What a
comfort it is to have all that to look back upon, but now whilst it
is all so fresh your hearts must bleed. Dear Bessie, I am so
thankful you have your work, your calling, your vocation to attend
to, and in trying to alleviate the troubles of others, as you have
always done, you will find the best relief to your own sorrow.

The letters from those she loved, whilst full of sympathy, also dwelt
upon the call and claim of duty, in the fulfilment of which Bessie could
alone find peace. She struggled bravely to respond, but the task before
her was more difficult than any that she had yet accomplished; and
there was no renewal of physical power, even when she began to recover
from the shock of her great sorrow. She paid many visits with her
sisters, and returned to Queen Anne Street in August 1871. The change in
her health was at that time painfully evident to her friends in London.
She moved slowly, with difficulty, and was easily exhausted by slight
fatigue. Still she resumed her work for the blind, as we find by a
letter from the Dean of Westminster [Dean Stanley] written on the 22d of
June 1871. He informs her that h