Though she made no complaint, signs were not wanting that she had begun to suffer in health.

She fretted through the nights, and was never really at peace save when she anticipated the servant in rising early, and had an honest scrub at saucepans or fireirons before breakfast.

Her main discomfort came of the feeling that she no longer had a house of her own; nothing about her seemed to be her property with the exception of her old kitchen clock, and one or two articles she could not have borne to part with.

From being a rather talkative woman she had become very reticent; she went about uneasily, with a look of suspicion or of fear.

Her children she no longer ventured to command; the secret of their wealth weighed upon her, she was in constant dread on their behalf.