"Stephen a regagné l'appétit et part vendredi pour Londres.
"Mes meilleures amitiés à Raoul, et tous mes souhaits pour un bon séjour à Lucerne, cet endroit si ravissant!
"Vieux Papa."
To the infinite amusement of "Vieux Papa," his daughter answered immediately, "We never knew that you had been at Freiburg," etc., etc.
In the course of August my husband had the pleasure of becoming personally acquainted with Mr. Scribner, who called upon him in the company of Mr. Jaccaci.
The improvement in Gilbert's state did not last. We renewed our entreaties about having a doctor's advice, and he yielded.
The great physician whom we called in declared it was weakness of the heart—due to overwork—that his patient was suffering from, and not asthma. He promised to set him up again in four months with his prescriptions.
Strange to say, Gilbert was greatly relieved to hear that his case was hypertrophy of the heart rather than asthma—for me it was the dreaded confirmation of fears that had long haunted me; still, we both derived hope and encouragement from the doctor's assurance of an ultimate cure. I cannot say that we really believed in a total cure, but we thought it possible to recover the former state of health which had preceded the attacks of suffocation. "I have not felt old, hitherto," my husband said, "certainly not more than if I had been only fifty; but the fact is, I am now sixty, and therefore must be prepared to face the advent of old age. I will submit to any privation for the sake of health, though it seems hard to be deprived of exercise. It is singular that my mental state should be clearer and more vigorous than ever before, and that my work should be easier and more enjoyable than at any former time."
Mr. Seeley had written:—
"What a good thing you called in this Parisian doctor! It might have been serious if you had gone on taking strong exercise in your present state of health.