ook, a
beautiful village on his Oxfordshire property, of which he was
particularly fond. He was not successful, and in a splenetic mood he
flung himself at full length upon a bank of wet grass. He was not
allowed to remain there long, but the mischief was done, and in a few
hours he was suffering from a bad cold. Even now, the result might not
have been serious had it not been that in a few days' time he was due to
fulfil certain engagements in town. Nothing vexed Lord Redesdale more
than not to keep a pledge. In all such matters he prided himself on
being punctual and trustworthy, and he refused to change his plans by
staying at home.

Accordingly, on May 23rd he came to London to transact some business,
and to take the chair next day at a meeting of the Royal Society of
Literature, of which he was a vice-president. This meeting took place in
the afternoon, and he addressed a crowded assembly, which greeted him
with great warmth. Those who were present, and saw his bright eyes and
heard his ringing voice, could have no suspicion that they would see him
again no more. His intimate friends alone perceived that he was making a
superlative effort. There followed a very bad night, and he went down to
Batsford next day, going straight to his bed, from which he never rose
again. His condition, at first, gave rise to little alarm. The disease,
which proved to be catarrhal jaundice, took its course; but for a long
time his spirit and his unconsciousness of danger sustained him and
filled those around him with hope. There was no disturbance of mind to
the very last. In a shaky hand, with his stylograph, he continued to
correspond with certain friends, about politics, and books, and even
about Veluvana. In the beginning of August there seemed to be symptoms
of improvement, but these were soon followed by a sudden and final
relapse. Even after this, Lord Redesdale's interest and curiosity were
sustained. In his very last letter to myself, painfully scrawled only
one week before his death, he wrote:--

"Have you seen Ernest Daudet's book just published, _Les auteurs de
la guerre de_ 1914? Bismarck is the subject of the first volume;
the second will deal with the Kaiser and the Emperor Joseph; and
the third with _leurs complices_. I know E.D., he is a brother of
Alphonse, and is a competent historian. His book is most
illuminating. Of course there are exaggerations, but he is always
well _documen