Lady Victoria Campbell

32 FEOM DEATH UNTO LIFE
if the difficulty was to believe in the forgiveness of
sins. What a wilderness wandering I have to look
back upon ! What rebellings, what murmurs,
what hard thoughts of God ! How is it that I have
felt the sin of all this so little ?
As the anniversaries came round, in words such as
these Lady Victoria commemorates the severe
illness which brought her to the very gates of death.
It was a time when, in a manner which seemed to
the watchers almost miraculous, she returned to life,
and, knowing as she did the seriousness of her illness,
she felt that life was given back to her for some
special purpose. With the slow return of bodily
strength, she passed through a mental and spiritual
experience which changed her outlook as completely
as her illness and recovery altered the material
conditions of her days. New influences came to her :
much seed was sown in a soil which was ready to
return a hundredfold, and from that great and solemn
time she dated a new life and a dedication of herself,
" body, soul, and spirit," in a new and consecrated
way.
Lady Victoria spent the autumn of 1868 with the
family at Inveraray. There was an intermission in
the treatment which necessitated her residence in
the south, and she was again united with the school-
room party in all the so-called work, and thoroughly
enjoyed outdoor life.
She had learnt to move about on her sticks with
great rapidity, and her room was always the centre