1855] OXFORD LIFE 387
oppressed with the smell of the weeds in the river, being very unwell at the inn, and reaching college with difficulty. Next day I was too ill to leave my bod, and when the doctor came he said I had the measles, which soon developed themselves (for the second time) with all violence. I was so ill, and so covered with measles, that the doctor said — the ground being deep in snow — that it was as much aa my Hie was worth to get up or risk any exposure to cold. Ten niinut.es afterwards a telegram from Lime was given to me. It came from Mrs. Stanley (evidently already summoned), and bade me come directly — my mother was seriously ill.
My decision was made at once. If I exposed myself to the cold, I should perhaps die; but if I stayed still in the agony of anxiety I was in, I should m*-tainlt/ die. I sent for a friend, who helped me to clrcHH and pack, summoned a fly and gave double! faro to catch the next train. It was a dreadful journey* I remember how faint I wanf but that I always sate bolt upright and determined not to give* in.
1. recollected that my mother had once said that if nho were very ill, her cousin Charlotte Leyeestcr must not be prevented coming to her. Ho an I passed through London I called for her and we went on together. It wan intensely cold, and my meanleB worn all driven in; they never came out again •— there wan not times. There was too much to think of; I could not attend to myself, however ill I felt. I could only feel that my precious mother wan in danger. John met me at the door of Lima — " You are still in time." Then Aunt Kitty and Lea cameould see it from her window. An immense body of clergy joined us at Hurstmonceaux Place, and many very old and familiar people—-old Judith Coleman led by a little girl, old