“My dearest Charlotte,—I
got home again late last night, after a very cold and stormy passage
| 360 | LIFE OF J. G. LOCKHART. |
“Your poor brother sleeps close by the entrance of the Versailles Cemetery, on the left hand at entering, and a modest stone will ere another week passes mark the spot. The very hour of his burial was also that of the Mayor’s wife, which all the town attended; and when we had just laid the coffin in the grave, all the sextons, &c, had to go and assist at this lady’s interment. I could not detain Holt, who had much to do elsewhere, and therefore was obliged to remain alone by the grave for two hours in the rain, until the people were at liberty to complete their work. . . .
“I thank Hope
for his very kind notes to me, and also to William about me. Be assured that I am physically quite as well
as I have been for a long time past, and that my mind is perfectly calm and
composed. It is not at the moment that great afflictions tell most on me, and
at present, so far from desiring either to go to Milton, or to have
William or you here, it is, I feel, much better for
| WALTER’S DEATH | 361 |
“It is a consolation that forgiveness and reconciliation preceded the abrupt close of that unhappy career. Even during his last delirium he never ceased to hold conversation with me as if present, and seemed to be constantly drawing comfort from the sense that we had exchanged estrangement for a renewal of natural feelings. The doctor did not suppose him to have suffered much pain. All the people of the hotel appeared to have taken a very warm interest in his case, and no doubt he returned to them as a sort of friends, when he found himself smitten at Fontainebleau.
“My dear and now only child, bear up and learn to endure evil, which is the staple of this mortal life. Kiss your babe and accept my blessing on her and you both.—Ever truly yours,
