OUIDA DIES IN POVERTY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 146, 14 March 1908, Page 11

OUIDA DIES IN POVERTY.

— — LAST THOUGHTS FOR HER DOGS.' Ouida, the-famous novelist, died at 0110 o'clock in the morning of January 25 in the comfortless rooms which sho rented in a cottago at Viareggio, Italy. Mile. Louise do la Ramee, to use her proper name, had .been"ailing for somo months past, and her advanced age—she was seventy-eight— sapped hor powers of recovery. " Hor faithful maid, Isolina Cervelli, was by the death-bed, and Ouida's beloved dogs, were in the room. 1 One, lluffino, lay at her breast to the last. Her two other pets, Nerino and Titauia, kept vigil on the floor by the bed. The little' sick-room was scantily i and miserably furnished, without even a carpet to cover the baro brick floor. ' Ouida lay, when tho end ha'd como, on a narrow bed, tho clear, incisive features wearing an expression of repose, the'eyes half-open. In her fragile hands she clasped a bunch of. the country flowers she loved. AH through tho night, after .death had como, the. little dogs howled round ' their mistress, jumping on'to the bed'to-gaze at her motionless features. With her last breath she spoke of her love for her dogs. About midnight she whisperedin Italian to hor maid, "I am going. Give me your hand." There' was a long silence, and then Ouida spoko again: "I die," she said;, "my dogs'l leave to sou. When you can no longer feed them, shoot them with a revolver." Her voice quavered to silence and the end came. There was no gathering of mourners at Ouida's house. The body was quickly placed in a plain coffin of chestnut wood, and this was conveyed in an ordinary street cab to Lucca. The funeral took placo at Bagni di Lucca, whero it is believed that Ouida's mother was also buried. Ouida received a quarter's payment of her Government pension of £150 on January 8,. but died absolutely penniless. Her maid declares that sho paid all expenses the previous week. ' All the novelist's papers were sealed by tho British Consul. There was a great quantity of them, including a half-finished novel. •