"MY DEAR ANNETTE,--How can I _tell_ you--how can I _begin_ to tell you--of _the shattering blow_ that has fallen upon us? Life can _never_ be the same again. _Death_ has entered our dwelling. Dearest Cathie--your Aunt Catherine--has been taken from us. She was _quite_ well yesterday--at least well for _her_--at quarter-past seven when she was rubbing my feet, and by _seven-thirty_ she was in a precarious condition. Maria _insisted_ on sending for a doctor, which of course I greatly regretted, realizing as I do full well _that the ability to save life is not with them_, and that _all drugs have only the power in them which we by wrong thought have given to them_. However, Maria had her way as _always_, but our dear sister succumbed before he arrived, so I do not _in any way_ attribute her death to _him_. We were both with her, each holding one of her dear hands, and the end was quite peaceful. I could have wished for _one last word of love_, but I do not rebel. Maria feels it _terribly_, though she always has _great_ self-control. But of course the loss cannot be to _her_, immersed in her writing, what it is to _me_, my darling Cathie's constant companion and adviser. We were _all in all_ to each other. What I shall do without her I cannot even _imagine_. Maria will naturally expect--she always _has_ expected--to find all household matters arranged _without any participation on her part_. And I am, alas! so feeble that for many years past I have had to confine my aid to that of consolation and encouragement. My sofa has indeed, I am thankful to think, been a _centre_ from which sympathy and love have flowed freely forth. This is as it should be. We invalids _live in the lives of others_. Their _joys_ are _our_ joys. _Their_ sorrows are _our_ sorrows. How I have rejoiced over your delightful experiences at Teneriffe--the islands of the blest! When it has snowed here, how often I have said to myself, 'Annette is in the sunshine.' And now, dear Annette, I am wondering whether, _when you leave Teneriffe_, you could make your home with us again for a time. You would find one very loving heart here to welcome you, _ever_ ready with counsel and support for a young girl's troubles and perplexities. _I_ never blamed you for leaving us. I know _too_ well that spirit of adventure, though my lot bids _me_ sternly silence its voice. And, darling child, does it not seem _pointed out for you_ to relinquish this strange idea of being a professional singer for a life to which the call of duty is so _plain_? I know from experience what a great blessing attends _those who give up their own will to live for others_. The surrender of the will! _That_ is where _true_ peace and happiness lie, if the young _could only believe it_.