288 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



that "there was nothing secret or underhand in 

 the transaction." 



On November 2 Hodson rejoined the wife whom 

 he loved so tenderly, with a love which frequent 

 separation and the whirl of engrossing cares, perils, 

 and distractions had served only to deepen and 

 sanctify. No lover could have expressed himself 

 more fervently than he had lately done upon hear- 

 ing of Mrs Hodson's narrow escape from imminent 

 destruction during one of her rides about Simla. 

 " I am indeed," he writes on October 27, " most 

 humbly and earnestly grateful to the good God 

 who has so mercifully spared what was so infinitely 

 more precious to me than life itself,^ and I do feel 

 how entirely our hearts should be filled with grati- 

 tude to Him for the bountiful mercies which we 

 mutually and individually have experienced at His 

 hands during the past year — the preservation of us 

 both from such perils ; my re-employment in an 

 honourable position ; my ability to do such good 

 service to the country at such a crisis ; the preserva- 

 tion of health in such a time of exposure ; my 

 complete, though tardy, vindication from unjust 

 charges ; my almost assured freedom from debt, — 

 all these mercies are almost more than my full 

 heart can bear. May God crown all other blessings 

 by granting us a safe reunion ! " 



On the day after his arrival he writes home to 

 his sister : " I was happy enough to get back here 

 yesterday night and find my wife well, and all but 

 recovered from the effects of her frightful accident — 



' The horse on which his wife was riding missed his footing, fell 

 down a precipice, and was killed. In the act of falling Mrs Hodson 

 saved herself, and almost by a miracle escaped without serious hurt. 



