letters, they are a great comfort to me; I hope you will go on with them. They talk now of sending me home while I can be moved, as they see it is hopeless to expect any improvement. The diarrhoea has ceased, and left swelling behind, which will soon render me immoveable. I shall be very thankful to go home, if it is God's Will. But, oh! I am so happy, I don't care what comes if only JESUS keeps so near! I could hardly contain myself all yesterday, and was very glad of the opportunity of seeing my doctor alone, [and] of speaking to him; and I had the comfort of the prayers of Mr. Y; he is coming again on Monday to administer the Holy Communion. He is so sympathizing, and speaks so beautifully of GOD's Love, and always prays for just what I want most.

"CHRIST will comfort you, dearest L-. You know we shall be nearer then than now. Perhaps I shall be able to see you, and now we can't meet. Would you like my little text-book that I read every morning before saying my prayers? I wear no ornament, and a ribbon, or a collar, you would soon wear out: or would you like my Prayer Book? I can't think of anything else I have used constantly.

"GOD for ever bless you and keep you, dearest L

"Your sister in Him,

Crossed in pencil.

"MELISE."

"Have you begun your class? It will be rather difficult to know what to read to them; but it will be very useful, if you can get an influence over them.

"If it had been GOD's Will I should have tried homœopathy, for He over-rules all things, and for our good."

H

CHAPTER V.

RETURN FROM TORQUAY TO WILMSLOW-PREPARATIONS FOR DEATH-LAST LETTER-RAPID DECLINE-LAST FEW DAYS-DEATH-FUNERAL-CONCLUSION.

"He shall gather the lambs with His Arm and carry them in His Bosom."

66

'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the House of the LORD for ever." 66 'I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My Hand."

Ir was towards the end of March that Melise's rapidly increasing weakness warned us to prepare for that separation which she already felt as near, but which we could not bring ourselves to contemplate as so close at hand. In fact she still looked so well in the face, that no one could have believed that within five weeks she would be lying cold and dead; and though her weakness was certainly very great, yet it was hoped that the summer sun and her native air would revive her, at any rate for a time. Her mother wrote on the 23rd of March :-" All say there is no immediate danger, but the dear child is very, very much weaker, but so happy and resigned. She is cheerful, though constantly on the sofa, ex

cept when she drives out for an hour whenever the weather permits her to do so, and that refreshes her most."

The clergyman to whom she refers in the preceding letters continued to visit her as long as she remained at Torquay; and as she was unable to go to Church, he gave her the Blessed Sacrament every week. He says of her: "I much regret that I did not see her sooner, and travel with her in her spiritual progress. The impression she made upon me was that she had been made meet for the inheritance of the Saints by the HOLY SPIRIT'S teaching, to which she looked through all outward means. There was no speculativeness about her, no vain inquiring of any kind. It was the simple wish to know God's will, and do it: to accept the Church as her appointed Teacher, and to follow it: to be nourished by the Sacramental Body of our Blessed LORD, and to grow in grace thereby, and in the knowledge of Him. She had loved GoD as her FATHER, and she yearned for Heaven as her Home. There was no clinging to earth. She sat loose even to the dearest family affection, though she valued it to the full. And though there was a great desire to go to CHRIST, yet this was not accompanied with the least impatience. She submitted to the bodily remedies that were applied to her, but her great comfort was the aid of God's Priest, because she felt that God spoke to her through His ministering servant. * * Thank GOD that I was permitted to minister to her, slight as that ministry was."

I cannot forbear pausing here to notice the exceeding Love of the Good Shepherd in thus providing for my beloved sister's spiritual wants. Surely goodness and mercy did follow her all the days of her life. From her earliest years her soul appears to have yearned for the care of one of those to whom JESUS said, "Feed My lambs ;" and now, just at the time when she most needed it, her wish was granted. It is true she had both a father and a brother in the sacred ministry; but, as I found at her deathbed, a near relation cannot well fulfil the work of a Priest. Natural feelings on both sides prevent his being looked upon simply as an ambassador of CHRIST; and a dread of wounding these feelings, perfectly right in itself, prevents that unreserved communication with the soul necessary for really profitable spiritual guidance. GOD forbid that I should for a moment justify that reserve on matters of eternal interest, and indifference to the spiritual welfare of those of one's own household which is so prevalent; but I would remark, what is the experience of almost every one who has been led to think much on the subject, that a relation, however near and dear, is not the natural guide in spiritual things; and jealousy on this point may often be very injurious to the welfare of the soul. No one, who knew Melise at all, could have well conceived of a more dutiful and affectionate daughter and sister; and yet she found the aid of a Priest who was not a relation of unspeakable value in preparing for that world where natural relationships

cease, and "they are equal unto the angels, and are the children of GOD, being the children of the Resurrection."

My father was at this time at Wilmslow; and, as he proposed visiting Torquay after Easter, it was thought that my mother and sister would return with him then. But, on the 29th of March, Melise's medical adviser recommended her return home as soon as possible. She did not like to travel in Holy Week, and they feared if she delayed till after Easter, she would be unable to be moved. They accordingly arranged to set out on Thursday, April 2nd, and wrote to me to meet them at Gloucester, and accompany them home. Melise had a very strong wish, if it were GOD's Will, to revisit the home of her childhood once more. It had always been very dear to her, as she once expressed it to a friend to whom she had been giving an account of some excursion :-"I am always delighted to get back; home is more than four walls' to me, it is the memories of twenty years;" and now that she was conscious of her approaching end, she felt more than usually desirous of returning.

I met them at Bristol, and was at first too much occupied with seeing my dear sister carried from one station to the other to take particular notice of her health. Still the languid way in which she, who was wont to be so active and independent of all assistance, resigned herself to be carried about by others, showed the extreme weakness to which she was reduced. When we were fairly settled in