May He have
us in His keeping for the days to come! You have, I trust, found good and
loving children in us, and we have experienced nothing but love and
kindness from you."
This dear "Mama-aunt" had been in delicate health for some time, and once
or twice seriously ill, but she seemed better, her physicians were
encouraging and all were hopeful till the 12th of March, when the Queen
and Prince were suddenly summoned from London to Frogmore by the news of
a very alarming relapse. They went at once with all speed, yet the Queen
says "the way seemed so long." When they readied the house, the Queen
writes: "Albert went up first, and when he returned with tears in his
eyes, I saw what awaited me. ... With a trembling heart I went up the
staircase and entered the bedroom, and here on a sofa, supported by
cushions, sat leaning back my beloved Mama, breathing rather heavily, but
in her silk dressing-gown, with her cap on, looking quite herself. ... I
knelt before her, kissed her dear hand and placed it next my cheek; but
though she opened her eyes she did not, I think, know me. She brushed my
hand off, and the dreadful reality was before me that for the first time,
she did not know the child she had ever received with such tender
smiles.
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