“Sunday, January 31st.—Went to Camden in the morning. Heard Mr. Hawker. Like him very much. Emma came in the afternoon, and Alice H. [Hartland] came to supper.”
Mrs. Percival’s residence, in which Miss Thomas found her temporary home, was but little distant from the church, and she attended many meetings and paid and received many visits, in which former associations were renewed and old friendships deepened. At an early date Miss Saker called and remained until the next day. The journal credibly relates that the writer and her guest “kept awake talking for long time.” In March Miss Thomas received a proposal of marriage, by letter. Her answer, declining it, was written on the morrow. During the spring and summer she frequently visited at her uncle’s house in Harrow, and once or twice made a lengthened stay. In April she went to Haverfordwest, to be the dear and welcome guest of Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, the parents of the late Mrs. Lewis; and while she was there Mr. Lewis arrived. The happiness of her visit to Wales was marred by illness. Both guests suffered from serious attacks of African fever, but were tenderly cared for by the friends of the girl-bride, whose passing away had involved them all in one great common sorrow. For Miss Thomas the visit lasted three weeks.
Thereafter the references to Mr. Lewis in the journal are more frequent. For some time, and throughout the May Meetings, which the two friends attended with keen interest, Mr. Lewis remains “Mr. Lewis.” But before “the merrie month” is over the entries give a hint of new conditions, as significant as the change of pronouns in the Acts of the Apostles. On Sunday night Miss Thomas attends Camden Road Church accompanied by “Mr. Lewis.” On Monday morning she meets “Tom” at the Mission House, and thereafter “Mr. Lewis” is dropped in favour of “Tom.” If Mr. Lewis were in London instead of in Kimpese, I should endeavour to persuade him to aid me in increasing the interest of this page. As it is, I am constrained to depend upon the diary, and turning over the pages I find the following pertinent records:—
“Sunday, July 4th.—Went to chapel twice. Communion in the evening. Stayed at Hartlands’. Told them about Tom and me.”
“Sunday, July 25th.—Went to the parish church [Harrow] in the morning. Bishop of G—— preached. Very poor sermon. Katie and Dora came to tea. I told them of my engagement.”
“Tuesday, August 10th.—Tom saw Mr. Baynes. So glad he approves.”
Early in the year Miss Thomas arranged for a short course of practical study at the Zenana Medical Home (or College) in St. George’s, E., of which Dr. Griffiths was principal. She went into residence in May, sharing a room with Miss Saker, and on Tuesday, May 25th, reported attending her first case. Her engagements at the Home permitted considerable freedom of movement, and she continued to visit friends and attend services at Camden Road, Spurgeon’s Tabernacle, and elsewhere.
Affectionate solicitude for her friend Mrs. Seymour occupied much of her time and involved many journeys across London. Mr. Seymour’s health had been broken for some years, and in the middle of May he died. His wife’s case was rendered the more pathetic by the fact that she was shortly expecting the birth of her third child. Miss Thomas was with her friend when this event occurred, some six weeks later, and it is not surprising that an early friendship, deepened by this passage through the Vale of Tears, held to the end. Miss Thomas’s letters to Mrs. Seymour—who, later, became Mrs. W. C. Parkinson—would alone have supplied ample material for a biography.
The engagement to Mr. Lewis gave the greatest satisfaction to many of her friends, and the late summer brought happy relaxations, including a stay at Deal. The Autumn Meetings of the Baptist Missionary Society were held in Bristol, and Miss Thomas and Mr. Lewis were required to be present, that, with other outgoing missionaries, they might have part in the valedictory service. For by this time it had been arranged that after their marriage Mr. Lewis and his bride would proceed to the Congo. In a letter written to Miss Lily Hartland from York, where she was paying a visit to her cousin, Miss Thomas gives a lively account of her Bristol experiences, and the story of her first day may be quoted:—
“We arrived at noon on Tuesday, went straight to Broadmead Chapel, left our luggage in the cloak-room there, and thence proceeded to get some dinner, meeting a good many Welsh friends on the way. As the afternoon sermon was to be preached in Tyndale Chapel, we set out to find it. Bristol is built on seven hills. One of these, Clifton, seems to be the ‘swell’ part of the town, and we found that Tyndale Chapel (Mr. Glover’s) is at the top of it. We got there long before the time of service, sat down against the railings, and studied the map to discover the whereabouts of our respective places of abode. Happily they were both fairly near, but a long way from Broadmead, where our luggage was left. While waiting outside, we met Mr. Phillips, who was very glad to see us, and came in with us to the service. The sermon, by Mr. Oswald Dykes, was very good; but I was rather too sleepy to appreciate it duly, for the chapel was packed to excess; pouring rain came on in the middle, and it became so dark that the gas had to be lighted. Mr. Ross sat in the same pew with us, and on coming out introduced me to his wife, whom we met several times after; she does seem nice.