148 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



But the happy prospect was soon to be fatally 

 overcast. On June 26 Hodson was summoned from 

 Mardan by tidings of the dangerous illness of his 

 little daughter. He found her in a sinking state, 

 but the little flame of her life still flickered on for 

 a fortnight longer. On the morning of July 10 

 " she breathed her soul away, so gently that those 

 watching her intently were conscious of no change. 

 The deep agony of this bereavement I have no 

 words to describe. We had watched her growth, 

 and prided ourselves on her development with such 

 absorbing interest and joy ; and she had so won 

 our hearts by her extreme sweetness and most un- 

 usual intelligence, that she had become the very 

 centre and light of our home life, and in losing her 

 we seem to have lost everything," 



About ten days later Hodson was hurrying back 

 alone to Mardan, while his wife remained at Marri 

 until October ; for he dared not take her back with 

 him at such a season, in her then state of health. 

 "It is very sad work to part again under these 

 circumstances, but in this wretched country there 

 is no help for us." 



"I am alone now," he writes on September 17, 

 *' having none of my officers here save the doctor. 

 But the border is quiet, and except a great deal of 

 crime aud villainy, I have not any great difficulties 

 to contend with. My new fort to hold the regiment 

 and protect the frontier is nearly finished, and my 

 new house therein will be habitable before my wife 

 comes down from Marri. So after two years and 

 a quarter of camp and hutting, I shall enjoy the 

 luxury of a room and the dignity of a house." 



Before the end of October Hodson and his wife 



