Her pious and attached friend, Mrs. Major Brown, had accompanied her husband to Scotland, and they now resided on their estate in Ayrshire. Mr. Peter Reid, a kind friend when in Antigua, was now a merchant in London. This gentleman advised her to invest the little money she had brought home--and which she had still preserved--in muslins; which she could work into finer articles of dress, and he would ship them in a vessel of his own/freight free, to be sold in the West Indies. His object was partly to increase her little capital, and partly to divert her mind from meditating so deeply on the loss of her lamented husband. The plan so kindly proposed was soon adopted; the muslin dresses were shipped; but she soon afterwards learned that the ship was captured by the French. This was a severe loss, and more deeply felt as it was received at the time when her father was deprived of his office. Mrs. Brown, after consulting with the Rev. Mr. Randall of Glasgow, the Rev. Mr. Ellis of Paisley, Lady Glenorchy and Mrs. Walker of Edinburgh, proposed to Mrs. Graham to take charge of a boarding-school in that metropolis. The friends of religion were of opinion that such an establishment, under the direction of one possessing the qualifications of Mrs. Graham, would be of singular benefit to young ladies destined for important stations in society. Her liberal education, her acquaintance with life, and her humble yet ardent piety, were considered peculiarly calculated to qualify her for so important a trust. Another friend had suggested to Mrs. Graham the propriety of opening a boarding-house in Edinburgh, which he thought could, through his influence, be easily filled by students. She saw obstacles to both: a boarding-house did not appear suitable, as her daughters would not be so likely to have the same advantages of education as from a boarding-school; and to engage as an instructress of youth on so large a scale, with so many competitors, appeared for her an arduous undertaking. In this perplexity, as in former trials, she fled to her unerring counsellor the Lord, her covenant God. She set apart a day for fasting and prayer. She spread her case before the Lord, earnestly beseeching him to make his word "a light to her feet and a lamp to her path," and "to lead her in the way in which she should go;" especially that she might be directed to choose the path in which she could best promote his glory and the highest interests of herself and her children. On searching the Scriptures, her mind fastened on these words in John 21:15, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs." Never, perhaps, was this commandment applied with more filial confidence, or accompanied with a richer blessing, since the days of the apostle, than in the present instance.