She wrote to me under the impression that something serious must have happened to prevent me, for the first time, from keeping an appointment that I had made with her.
When I left you I went to answer her note personally.

She was not only distressed to hear of Mr.Keller's illness, she was interested enough in my sad news to ask particularly in what form the illness declared itself.
When I mentioned what the symptoms were, she showed an agitation which took me quite by surprise.

'Do the doctors understand what is the matter with him ?' she asked.

I told her that one of the doctors was evidently puzzled, and that the other had acknowledged that the malady was so far incomprehensible to him.

She clasped her hands in despair--she said, 'Oh, if my poor husband had been alive!' I naturally asked what she meant.