In 1880 came the end of this bright chapter of her life. The death of Dr. Hodgson brought back the sufferings of the earlier loss in 1860, when Mr. Laing’s death left so great a blank. Between 1875 and 1880 Miss Buss had lost her father, and Mr. and Mrs. Payne, and now came the death of Dr. Hodgson and Miss Chessar in the same month, to all of whom she had been linked not only by the ordinary ties of life, in more than ordinary strength, but also by very special sympathy in her personal work. Extracts from her letters tell their own story. She and Dr. Hodgson, with Miss Chessar, Miss Caroline Haddon, Miss Franks, and some others, had gone to a great educational congress held in Brussels, in which many of them were to take active part. On August 21 Miss Buss writes to her sister— “A very pleasant journey yesterday. The water quite smooth, and hardly any one ill. We are at present fourteen people and are shaking down. I am now going to the Bureau to get my ticket for the Teachers’ Conference, and then to the Exhibition.” “Aug. 23. “I am sorry to tell you that Dr. Hodgson is very ill. He has had to come to our place, as really he could not be left. I am now writing for an English doctor. If necessary, I must telegraph to Mrs. Hodgson, or, if possible, must return with him to London, telegraphing for her to meet him. It is very sad. He thinks it is some heart affection, but no one can tell till the doctor has been.” “Aug. 24. “Dr. H. is so ill that it is feared he will die. “I have telegrammed to Mrs. Hodgson, but she cannot get here till to-night at the earliest. I have been praying most earnestly that he may live to see her. His lungs are congested, and he breathes just as our father used to do. “I have now been with him thirty hours, but a most kind and experienced teacher, Mr. Harris, a friend of Miss Haddon’s, is chief nurse.” On August 17, before leaving Edinburgh, Dr. Hodgson had written to his friend Mr. A. Ireland— “My courage fails me as the time draws near for going to Belgium. For the first time in my life the thought of illness away from home hangs upon me. I have had queer sensations and pains in the heart.... The educational conference lasts from the 22nd to 29th inst. I have just received a huge 8vo. volume of 1000 pages, and 3 lbs. 9½ ozs. in weight, containing preliminary reports for the six sections into which the conference is divided.” While in London he consulted a medical man, who assured him that he was suffering only from indigestion. But the fatigue and heat of travelling brought on attack after attack of _angina pectoris_, and on the evening of August 24 the end came. Of this terrible three days Miss Buss writes—