“November 19, 1882.
“My dearest Mrs. Hartland,—I must write just a line or two to tell you I had my letter last night. Wasn’t it nice? On his birthday! And so the long waiting time is over for both of us at last. I can hardly believe it. It is all so wonderful, the way that the Lord has led us both. Poor dear old boy! he has had a long, weary time altogether. But it is over at last, and, as he puts it, ‘The joy of the present is all the sweeter for past sorrow.’ I suppose you have had a letter, for he tells me he is going to write to you. In mine he says it will be nearly another year, he fears, before he is home. My letter is dated September 15th. I can’t write about other things now. But I know you will rejoice with us both in our happiness. With much love to all,
“Believe me, dear Mrs. Hartland,
“Yours affectionately,
“Gwen Elen Thomas.”
At the end of November Messrs. Grenfell and Doke were on the point of sailing for the Congo, and Miss Thomas records her regret that she was unable to see them, but cherishes the hope of meeting them in Africa. Grenfell she met, though under other conditions than those she had forecast; but Doke had passed on. As the year waned her father’s illness had caused her grave concern, but before it closed he was better. She records also with pleasure that she is wearing the ring which Mrs. Hartland had procured at her son’s desire.
The little spell of happy work and happy correspondence to which she had looked forward was quickly troubled. Later deep called unto deep. In January her father died, at the age of seventy-three, and her natural sorrow was rendered more acute by the fact that he had been to her, as to his other children, a friend as well as a father, who desired and received not only their filial affection, but their understanding and sympathy in the intellectual interests of his life.
Soon afterwards came news of the death of Mr. Doke, who had studied and practised engineering, as well as theology, and had gone out to the Congo with Grenfell, specially to superintend the reconstruction of the steamer Peace. This sad event moved Miss Thomas deeply and touched her happy dreams with a shadow of new anxiety. Three months later the shadow suddenly blackened.
On June 19th Mr. Brock called to inform her that the Baptist Missionary Committee had received a letter from Grenfell stating that John Hartland was ailing, and that Grenfell hoped to send him home immediately, in which case he might be expected at the end of the month. At first she was naturally tempted to regard the news as good, giving promise of an early meeting with the man she loved. But reflection quickly taught her that Mr. Brock would not have been deputed by the Committee to bring her happy tidings, and she prepared herself for the disclosure of the fact, designedly withheld from her for the moment, that John Hartland’s illness was very grave. For three weeks her heart was tense with anxiety, and she wrote to Mrs. Hartland frequently, sometimes day by day, pouring out her solicitude, her sympathy, the pain of her love and the comfort of her faith.
On July 4th she wrote in a letter to Mrs. Hartland: “I heard from Mr. Crudgington this morning, telling me of the answer he had received. He seems to think it probable that our dear John will be on board the English mail, as it is so late. But I am trying not to count upon it too much.” This was written in the morning. In the afternoon the following telegram was received at the Mission House:—