After her husband's funeral at Trieste, Lady Burton's first step should
have been the dismissal of her house-hold, except one or two servants.
She did not feel equal to this, however, and difficulties arose which
are touched on in the following letter:
"From the time I lost my all, my earthly god of thirty-five years, in
two hours, I have been like one with a blow on the head. I cannot write
about him; I must tell of myself. Having been eighteen years in Trieste,
it was difficult to leave so many dependent on me, so many friends to
bid farewell, so many philanthropic works to wind up the affairs of, and
I had to settle twenty rooms full of things I could not throw away. It
took me fourteen weeks to do it. During that time I swam in a sea of
small horrors--wickedness, treachery, threats; but my Triestine friends
stuck to me. The authorities behaved nobly, and I pulled through and
got off."[1]
The next few months were busy ones for Lady Burton. It is hard under any
circumstances to break up a home of eighteen years, and harder still when
it has to be done as economically and expeditiously as possible. She
placed out all her old and trusted servants; she endeavoured to find
friends to take on the care of many of the aged and poor people who were
more or less dependent on her; she wound up the institutions of which she
was President; she paid her debts, and said good-bye to all her friends.
She refused to sell any of the furniture or effects of the home she had
loved so well.
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