hearted, earnest Christian girl.

I breakfasted at the palace the next morning after service at the
private chapel, and I was delighted at the Bishop's calling on one
of the younger girls to say grace. Mrs. Gilbert told me they took
it in turns. I should like to have heard Bessie's grace to her
Heavenly Father.

Very soon new friends gathered round the _sisterhood_; but at first the
change, so far as society was concerned, was keenly felt by them. There
were no Fellows of B.N.C. to come in with torn gowns to be mended, and
talk of Catalani and Grisi; no more dinners in the Hall, none of the
intellectual activity of university life. They had also far less of the
company of a father greatly beloved by all his children. Official
business at Chichester was much heavier than it had been at Oxford, and
absorbed more of his time.

The Archdeacon of Chichester at that time was the Rev. E. H. (now
Cardinal) Manning. He was a frequent visitor at the palace, where a room
was set apart for him. As years passed on, the anxiety of his friends
with regard to his views increased. At last there came a day in 1851
when he and Bishop Gilbert had a long talk with Bishop Wilberforce at
Lavington, and Archdeacon Manning returned to pay his last visit to the
palace. He wrote a day or two later to announce his decision to join the
Church of Rome. As he stood in the hall on this last visit he saw Bessie
enter from her favourite garden walk. She was as usual puzzled by the
doors, and hesitated a moment before coming to a decision. The
archdeacon saw this, and stepping forward took her by the hand: "I
believe you cannot find the way," he said. In speaking of this she would
add, in that gentle, solemn manner she had when she was deeply moved, "I
only said 'thank you,' but I thought is it I that cannot find my way?"

In 1844 an event of great interest to girls in and out of the
schoolroom took place. A German governess, Frauelein D., replaced the
English lady who had for so long been a member of the household. German
became at once the most fascinating of all subjects of study for young
and old; and the Frauelein, with her open mind and, from the point of
view of those days, her advanced views, speedily acquired great
influence over Bessie.

Frauelein D. describes the charm of the family circle at the palace, in
which the two prominent figures were the Bishop and his blind daughter.
Bessie had at this time a very ten