Late in the evening he suddenly opened his eyes and said: "Kiss me, sweet Wifie, and I will try to sleep a little." I lay down by his side, and kissed the burning lips he pressed to mine for the last time. The fire of them, fierce beyond any I had ever felt, even in his most loving moods, startled me, and as I slipped my hand from under his head he gave a little sigh and became unconscious. The doctor came at once, but no remedies prevailed against this sudden failure of the heart's action, and my husband died without regaining consciousness, before his last kiss was cold on my lips.
There is little more to add. All that last night I sat by my husband watching and listening for the look and the word he would never give me again. All that night I whispered to him to speak to me, and I fancied that he moved, and that the fools who said he was dead did not really know. He had never failed to answer my every look and word before. His face was so peaceful; so well, all the tiredness had gone from it now. I would not open { 335} the door because I feared to disturb him--he had always liked us to be alone. And the rain and the wind swept about the house as though the whole world shared my desolation.
He did not make any "dying speech," or refer in any way at the last to his "Colleagues and the Irish people," as was at the time erroneously reported. I was too broken then and too indifferent to what any sensation-lovers put about to contradict this story, but, as I am now giving to the world the absolutely true account of the Parnell whom I knew and loved, I am able to state that he was incapable of an affectation so complete. The last words Parnell spoke were given to the wife who had never failed him, to the love that was stronger than death--"Kiss me, sweet Wifie, and I will try to sleep a little."
[2] We had an idea of renting a house in Wales.
Arrears Bill, a promised, 165 becomes law, 180 introduction of, 171
Avondale, Parnell's estates at, 51 Parnell's love of, 209
Barrett-Lennard, Lady, 10, 14, 16, 19 Sir Thomas, 6, 14, 31
Biggar, J. G., 74 obstructs Parliamentary business, 53 warrant for arrest of, 118
Brighton, a day on the downs at, 30 _et seq._ life at, 28
Brighton, Local Government Bill discussed at, 223 Mrs. O'Shea's house at, 273 railway station rebuilt, 100 visits to, 229