Through 2000, it was clear to their friends that Emmy and Bill Maxwell were both increasingly frail and, by the summer, that Emmy was close to death. Bill was reading War and Peace to her, and then to himself. Shirley later wrote that his “solace and pleasure in the book were an event in those rooms.” When Bill grew too weak to hold the book, Annabel came each afternoon and read for him. Throughout these days Shirley also came often and, if the Maxwells weren’t well enough to see her, sat in the living room. These long daily visits were important. Alec Wilkinson, who was also there each day, felt that “Shirley and Bill connected on some level that was beyond social. Shirley was there in a profound way, the way one person would be there for another, to ease the burden, drawing on all the capital of the years of friendship and regard … There was something fierce about it … She was seeing their friendship, their love, to the end. Attending it. The attention of love. It was in character of what she would do. It was duty in the best sense.”