360 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY cHAP. XI\ 



Could you put in an excuse on account of in- 

 fluenza ? 



Can't write any more. — Ever yours, T. H. EL 



HODESLEA, EaSTBOUENE, 



March 19, 1895. 

 My dear Knowles — I am making use of the pen of 

 my dear daughter and good nurse, in the first place to 

 thank you for your cheque, in the second place to say that 

 you must not look for the article this month. I haven't 

 been out of bed since the 1st, but they are fighting a 

 battle with bronchitis over my body. — Ever yours very 

 faithfuDy, For T. H. H., 



Sophy Huxley. 



The next four months were a period of painful 

 struggle against disease, borne wath a patience and 

 gentleness which was rare even in the long ex- 

 perience of the trained nurses who tended him. To 

 natural toughness of constitution he added a power 

 of vidll unbroken by the long strain ; and for the sake 

 of others to whom his life meant so much, he wished to 

 recover and willed to do everything towards recovery. 

 And so he managed to throw off the influenza and 

 the severe bronchitis which attended it. What was 

 marvellous at his age, and indeed would scarcely 

 have been expected in a young man, most serious 

 mischief induced by the bronchitis disappeared. By 

 May he was strong enough to walk from the terrace 

 to the lawn and his beloved saxifrages, and to re- 

 mount the steps to the house without helj). 



But though the original attack was successfully 

 thrown off, the lung trouble had affected the heart ; 



