I was left alone in the world.

My mother and brother passed away in November, within a few days of each other, while I lay in bed under a severe attack of typhoid fever, unable to move and, perhaps fortunately, unable to feel the full weight of the catastrophe, being myself face to face with death.
I was the first stricken, upon returning from a visit in the East to our cottage at Cresson Springs on top of the Alleghanies where my mother and I spent our happy summers.

I had been quite unwell for a day or two before leaving New York.

A physician being summoned, my trouble was pronounced typhoid fever.

Professor Dennis was called from New York and he corroborated the diagnosis.