CONCLUSION. 363 



paragraph. With strict charge that it should 

 not leave my hands, Mrs. Jefferies lent me the 

 proof of an article which appeared in Long- 

 mans Magazine in spring, 1886. It was the 

 very last copy he wrote with his own hand. 

 Since then his wife wrote from his dictation. 

 Head this quotation from it, which touched 

 me greatly yesterday : 



" ' I wonder to myself how they can all get 

 on without me ; how they manage, bird and 

 flower, without ME, to keep the calendar for 

 them. For I noted it so carefully and lovingly 

 day by day.' 



" And this : 



" ( They go on without me, orchis-flower and 

 cowslip. I cannot number them all. I hear, 

 as it were, the patter of their feet flower and 

 buds, and the beautiful clouds that go over, 

 with the sweet rush of rain and burst of sun 

 glory among the leafy trees. They go on, 

 and I am no more than the least of the empty 

 shells that strew the sward of the hill.' 



