CHAPTER XV.
SOLITUDE.
Hannah and Martha had seemed to have one heart and soul between them, from the time the little sisters had lain in the same crib seventy-three years before. Many an occupation had been shared, many a work talked over, many a long dark drive been shared, many a book read together, many an illness cheered by their sweet companionship. The other sisters had gone in regular succession of age, and Hannah must have thought that she, the frailest, would not be the survivor. But hers was to be the widowhood of the heart. In September 1819, Mr. and Mrs. Wilberforce came to Barley Wood; his diary records, "Patty sat up with me till near twelve, talking over Hannah's first introduction to a London life, and I, not she, broke off the conference. I never saw her more animated.
