● ● ●  physical difficulty. On one occasion after her arrival at Rumney Station she expressed a desire to see the village assembly hall, but the good ladies of the boardinghouse assured her that “they could not carry her and there were no men in.”⁹³ Thereupon she announced that she would go anyway, rose up, and walked there—to the consternation of all, but strengthening the conviction of those who said sharply that her illness was a pretense. Yet the illness did not vanish then and there, and afterwards she found herself as helpless as ever. The sudden access of strength that had come to her in the North Groton emergency was not to be regained and retained by an act of will.

After a few months, by some means or other, Patterson managed to acquire a new house. It was in Rumney village a mile back in the hills, and it stood a little above the village, opposite the schoolhouse, with a wide view toward the mountains. It was a beautiful spot, with a lovely sweep to the landscape, and it seemed to match the rise in Mrs. Patterson’s spirits.

Not that she was much better physically. But she had touched bottom, she had survived the ordeal, and she found that life was still good. One letter of hers which probably belongs to this period was written to her “Dear Hubby” while she was on a visit to Sanbornton Bridge. The letter is very affectionate and gives a revealing glimpse of her situation:

While at Rumney she began to write again, and two of the poems in her notebook hint at the inner development that had gone on during the Groton years. One of them is called “The Heart’s Unrest” and ends:

             Yet through the rough billows and pittiless storms
                    The Pilot acquires his art  ● ● ●