"Then your wife will not go," answered George, inferring that his services would be required because hers could not be had. "No; she will not be able to go, and I cannot think of going alone." "Well, I shall be very willing to go," continued George, "and think I shall enjoy the change. That you need to escape from the Virginia winter is very evident. You are not as well as you were six months ago." "No one can be so conscious of that as myself," remarked Lawrence, with a degree of sadness that pierced George's heart. "I have failed very fast within the last three months, and I sometimes doubt whether a change of climate will do me any good." "Perhaps your view of the case is too gloomy," suggested George, whom we ought to call _Major_ Washington now, but will not at present. "I believe that the foreign air will put new life into you." "That is what I need," responded Lawrence, "for the old life within me is rapidly dying out. I must get new strength from some source, or my days are numbered." Lawrence was very much depressed at this time, and he was also peevish and difficult to please. George could manage him better than any one else, except his wife, for the reason that his confidence in his young brother was unbounded. The latter knew how to encourage the sick man without concealing from him his true condition. Lawrence was certainly in a very critical state of health, and his physician had so announced to his friends. George was alarmed about his brother, although he was confident that a winter in Barbadoes would put him in the way of complete restoration. It was settled that they should spend the winter in Barbadoes, and hasty preparations were made for the voyage. George had accepted his appointment, but, now arranged to enter upon the duties of the office after his return. He was glad to be able to accompany his brother to a more favorable clime. We have not space to record their experience abroad in detail. It will answer our purpose to record the fact that a change of climate did not improve Lawrence Washington. On the whole, he continued to fail, so that he returned to Virginia late in the spring of 1751, a weaker and less happy man. His sojourn in a warmer country through the winter and spring months proved that he was beyond hope of recovery. George had one experience in Barbadoes that we must record. He was attacked by the small-pox with considerable severity, occasioning much anxiety to Lawrence. However, he rallied from the attack more rapidly than was expected, his good physical condition enabling him to resist disease as weaker ones cannot. But he carried the marks of the loathsome disease through life. George kept a journal when abroad, as he had done at home, and the entries concerning the small-pox are as follows: