He was suffering from a cold, and complained of feeling ill. Mrs. Fawcett had been called away by the fatal illness of her cousin. When she returned to London, it was to hear that her husband’s illness was pronounced to be diphtheria, and it was rendered more serious later by typhoid and other complications. [Sidenote: Through the Valley and Back.] Until the end of December his condition was grave. During the first stage of the illness he had frequently been delirious, and remembered little of what had happened. His mind was made up that he would not recover, and he insisted on hearing the bulletins. They were read to him with omissions. There was to be an important election at Liverpool, and he, remembering its date, asked about the prospect. It was his habit at Christmas to send to a list of country labourers whom he knew, or whose names had been given to him by his father, envelopes each containing a card on which was written ‘Please give to bearer John Smith [so many] pounds of beef or mutton.’ With the card he sent a personal letter after this fashion: ‘Dear John, I enclose a ticket for Christmas beef. Hoping you and the children are well, I am,’ etc. The entire list of these benefactions he kept clearly in his mind. Before he was out of his delirium, he asked his secretary to send out the Christmas letters and food tickets as usual. A little later, when he was just beginning to recover, a Cambridge crony was permitted to stand for a short time by his bedside. In the midst of his own weakness, Fawcett’s thoughts flew to a Cambridge friend in trouble, and he charged his guest to do the utmost to give whatever help was possible. The course of Fawcett’s illness was watched with extraordinary anxiety. It was the dominant theme at working men’s meetings and in third-class railway carriages. The Royal Family showed the same interest as the labourers who discussed the latest bulletin in the market-place of Salisbury. The Queen telegraphed for news, at times twice a day. Gradually the patient improved, and the danger was pronounced over. [Sidenote: Convalescing with _Vanity Fair_.] The convalescent was permitted to see his friends, who in relays read to him the whole of _Vanity Fair_. After three weeks’ inaction, he was allowed to write to his parents, and amidst great rejoicing the cat and dog were permitted to resume their usual place in the family circle. In the early part of January he went to stay at his father-in-law’s, on the Suffolk coast.