My dear Miss Faithfull, Thanks so much for your letter - it has been an exceedingly bitter trial. & all the work on account of the long & apparently successful battling for life. & then the keen disappointment when after weathering so many storms, only quite a little [rock?] [inched?] her dear life at last. Mama nursed her all through, & over & over again as hope triumphed over fear, our confidence grew & increased, & each ____she _____ed to make her more precious to us - She has always been more than a Sister to me, but I ought not to think of myself __ all them poor dear boys & Levinie, they are all so good, it has brought its own reward, the great unselfishness & thought for each other. Tomorrow we pack up & go back to London, which feels difficult, for here we do seem near to her everything we touch & look at is full of her, & then going back to London means taking up the former life again, with the hope gone, quite gone, it is so difficult to believe. I am happy about her, my darling May, the end was perfectly tranquil, no distress or pain. a foretaste of the peace to come. You won't mind a short letter. Yrs affect. M Gladstone.
Written at [Hagley]