Queen also makes a collection of the Prince’s speeches, and this again stimulates the interest of her daughter, who expresses her pleasure at hearing that Mr. (afterwards Sir Arthur) Helps has been selected by her mother to write an introduction to them for publication. “What can it be,” she writes in one of her letters to the Queen, “but beautiful and elevating if he has rightly entered into the spirit of that pure and noble being?” But even these occupations failed entirely to divert the mind of the Queen from brooding over her bereavement, and now and again her letters, so full of despondency and hopelessness, alarmed her daughter. To one of these the Princess replies from Auerbach, in the month of August, as follows:--“Try and gather in the few bright things you have remaining, and cherish them, for though faint, yet they are types of that infinite joy still to come. I am sure, dear mamma, the more you try to appreciate and to find the good in that which God in His love has _left_ you, the more worthy you will daily become of that which is in store. That earthly happiness you had is indeed gone for ever, but you must not think that every ray of it has left you. You have the privilege, which dear papa knew so well how to value, in your exalted position, of doing good and living for others, of carrying on his plans, his wishes, into fulfilment, and as you go on doing your duty, this will, this must, I feel sure, bring you peace and comfort.”[144] In the meantime preparations for an interesting and important event in the Royal Family had to be made. It has been already mentioned that the Prince of Wales had been much attracted by the fascinating society of the Princess Alexandra of Sleswig-Holstein-Glücksburg, whom he met shortly before his father’s death whilst visiting Germany. The feeling had ripened into a warm attachment, and it soon came to be rumoured that the lady had listened favourably to his suit as a lover. In autumn it was decided that the Queen should proceed to the Continent and arrange the preliminaries of this alliance with the parents of the Princess. It was also her Majesty’s wish to visit Gotha--consecrated to her now by many tender memories--as soon as she was able to endure the fatigue of travel. Lord Russell was selected to accompany her Majesty as Minister in attendance.