Lady Victoria Campbell

HOME FOR GOOD 61
James Simpson, hastily summoned from Edinburgh,
could possibly reach the Castle.
A recollection abides of the arrival of the great
physician. He had posted from Balloch, and to
utilise the long, dark hours he had fixed at the back
of his carriage two candles, by the light of which he
had read with complete absorption, totally oblivious
of the mountains of wax which had freely dropped
on his massive head with the long, thick, grey hair,
and on his broad shoulders.
The family, hastily summoned, gathered from every
quarter, and for many weeks life hung in the balance.
The Duchess made a partial recovery, but her
health from that time to the date of her death was
a matter of constant watching and anxiety. To Lady
Emma, hearing the reports at Cannes, and to others
within the circle of the home, there came many
thoughts as to what the future must have in store for
her children. The remembrance of the life given
back in so marvellous a manner the winter before,
rose to every mind, and the words Lady Emma
wrote to Lady Victoria when the long and anxious
watch was ended, that her life had been given back
for some " special purpose/' were fulfilled in the
years that followed this sad calamity.
After several weeks, the immediate and pressing
anxiety was relieved, and the sisters, Lady Elizabeth
and Lady Evelyn, joined the party at Cannes.
Some of their letters have been preserved, and
they show how happily and with what restored
youthful enjoyment Lady Victoria was taking in her