THE O'CONNOR MEMOIRS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20300, 6 July 1929, Page 10

THE O'CONNOR MEMOIRS.

[REMINISCENCES OF "T.P."

DARNELL'S LAST ILLNESS* A PATHETIC HOME-COMING. NARRATIVE OF DEVOTED WIFE. (Copyright). No. LXIX. I:a the previous chapter Mr. O'Connor related the story of Parnell's Snal public Meeting—that at Cregga—and referred to /lis return to Dublin on his way back to England. Although a very sick man he cave attention to business matters in Dublin. Meantime, the poor man was becoming steadily worse. Ho looked, to his friends, 511 and fatigued, and the pains in his hand and arm became acute. Doubtless with a view to shortening the hours of solitudo, with their blackening of every care and also the pains of rheumatism, he stopped up a3 late as he could, and ho held long conversations with his frier,ds. ]t was evidence of the tremendous and unconquerable resolution of the man that, though he had to lio on a sofa while he was talking to them, Parnell spoke with inflexible resolution and tenacity, and never even alluded to his illness and his pain. Mark tho astounding self-confi-dence of this declaration by a man who, unknown to himself though perhaps foreboded by tho loving friends who listened to him and watched him, was sick unto death: " It is only a matter of time; the fight may be long or short, but we will yrin in the end." Parnell even went to a meeting on iWednesday, September 30, to confer with those who were helping him to found his new paper. But it was observed that he looked very ill, and that once or twice he had to take brandy to support himself. I may here add one of the incidents during his electioneering campaign at Sligo—where there was a byelection on which he had fought an d He was observed one morning,, if not more, to seek that stimulant to a man with broken strength which consists of brandy and Worcester sauce.

Departure for England. At the end of the meeting of the Daily Independent supporters, tho luro of his ;wife and of Brighton once more came upon Parnell, and he announced that ho >vas going to England that night. Dr. Kenny, his -warm friend as -well as his physician, in vain protested against a ijoiirney so long and ,so fatiguing in the then stato of 'his health, asserting that Lis symptoms threatened an aggravation of his illness. But there was never any uso in trying to dissuade Parnell from any course on which ho had determined; still less was it possible to fight against that magnetic attraction exercised by the .woman whom ho so profoundly loved and who loved him equally well. Assuredly there was nothing to cause either surprise or scandal that this sorely beset man ehould seek refuge on that bosom where mutual devotion had made two beings one.

However, to Brighton Parnell was determined to go. There was epic tragedy, though nobody knew it at the time—and least of all Parnell—in his reply to the remonstrances of his friends against the journey on account of tho state of his health. " Oh, no," was the reply of Parnell. " I shall bo all right. I shall come back next Saturday week." Which, indeed, ho did, but as a corpse in his coffin.

Home for the Last Time. So Parnell, in spite of all remonstrance fend of the state of his health, returned to Brighton. Mrs. Parnell had received the usual series oi telegrams which he always sent her when he was absent from her. These telegrams were alarming, especially when he wired from Creggs that it was " terrible weather." But Mrs. Parnell was somewhat consoled by the thought that she had put a special change of clothes into a bag for him and he had promised not to be parted from it. "So I knew that he would find means of changing his clothes and things directly after the meeting " —as to which, as will bo seen presently, there was a tragic incident. And then there was the home-coming. It is one of the moving scenes that led up to the terrible denouement. Parnell seemed to bo very sick when he got out of the bnggv which his wife had sent to meet him, and there a characteristic incident occurred. Ho had a fa-vourite horso railed the Dictator, and tho Dictator was drawing the buggy. The 3nxious wife, however, had sent also a closed fly a3 Eafer.

Parnell, characteristically, would not have anything but the buggy with Dictator drawing it. When he arrived he was so weak that his wife had to help liim into the house, and then he sank into his own chair before the blazing fire ehe had made, in spite of the warm weather. " Oh, my wife," he said, "it 5s good to be back ! You may keep mo fi bit now."

Tragic Episodo of Damp Clothes. Then Mrs. Parnell began to reproach her husband for his travelling immediately after the Turkish bath he had had in London, but he maintained it had done him good. After ho had eaten a fairly good dinner, she told him she wanted to havo Sir Henry Thompson down the next day. "Ho laughed," she said, " at the idea, but I was very much 5n earnest, and ho said he would see how ho felt in tho morning." Then he gave her an account of what he had gone through during his last visit to Ireland. He had, he said, to keep his arm in a sling; all the time. And then came the tragic episode of the change of clothes which the thoughtful wife had packed separately in a s'mall bag,,and which Parnell was never to be parted from. He had to explain that the bag had been taken homo in error by.his host, and that thus he had to sit in his wet things for the hours of the meeting and under the rain. " I was much vexed," ways Mrs. ParneH, " when I heard this, for I always tnade such a point of his not koeping on damp things, and provided against ifc so carefully when starting him off." My readers will remember the mysterious bap with which Parnell went into the State trial every day, the mystery of which finally was solved in its being found to contain a pair of fresh socks which his wife had insisted on his carrying every day to the Court. " Really a Beautiful Best."

Parnell went further into his experirnres, confessing that ho had found it difficult to eat the breakfast prepared by his friends, who wdre all so kind to him. " I do hate being away from home," he eaid, " especially when I feel ill." And then came the final hours befora Parnell had to take to his bed. After dinner he sat before the fire trying to cmoke a cigar, but presently he threw it away half-smoked. And here came a characteristic episode. "Ho wanted to ' feel ' I was there," says Mrs. Parnell, " so I sat by his feet on the rug and Seant my head against his knee while he stroked my hair. I stopped his hand because I feared the pain might come on again, and held it %vhile he smiled assent to my suggestion that ho should try to Bleep a little. Grouso and Pincher, our Bettor and terrier, had to come close by us, and as they settled by his "feet he eaid: ' This is really a beautiful rest.' " Mrs. Parnell goes on: "He dozed now fend then, and I could see how wan and exhausted the still, clear-cut face was, and I vowed to myself that he should not again leave my care until his health jvas completely re-established." (To bo continued daily).