Not, of course, for the sake of the salary, for her earnings, and the interest of the thousand pounds that would be hers when she came of age, would be sufficient for them both, but as an amusement for him, and to give him a sense of independence.
But when she was just seventeen, and was looking forward to the time when she would begin to carry her plan into effect, a terrible blow came.

She heard from her mother that Robert was dead.
"It is a sad blow for us all," Mrs.Hannay wrote, "but, as you know, he has never been strong; still, we had no idea that anything serious ailed him until we heard a fortnight since he was suffering from a violent cough and had lost strength rapidly.

A week later we heard that the doctors were of opinion it was a case of sudden consumption, and that the end was rapidly approaching.

I went up to town to see him, and found him even worse than I expected, and was in no way surprised when this morning I received a letter saying that he had gone.

Great as is the blow, one cannot but feel that, terribly afflicted as he was, his death is, as far as he is concerned, a happy release.