She refused to face such a hideous possibility.
She declined to see Dr.Watson.Why should she?
Had not Sir James Clark assured her that all would be well?
Only two days before the end, which was seen now to be almost inevitable by everyone about her, she wrote, full of apparent confidence, to the King of the Belgians: "I do not sit up with him at night," she said, "as I could be of no use; and there is nothing to cause alarm." The Princess Alice tried to tell her the truth, but her hopefulness would not be daunted.

On the morning of December 14, Albert, just as she had expected, seemed to be better; perhaps the crisis was over.

But in the course of the day there was a serious relapse.

Then at last she allowed herself to see that she was standing on the edge of an appalling gulf.

The whole family was summoned, and, one after another, the children took a silent farewell of their father.
"It was a terrible moment," Victoria wrote in her diary, "but, thank God! I was able to command myself, and to be perfectly calm, and remained sitting by his side." He murmured something, but she could not hear what it was; she thought he was speaking in French.