r he was dead; he suffered remorse about some of his creditors.
Reggie came in shortly afterwards much to my relief. Oscar told us that
he had had a horrible dream the previous night--"that he had been
supping with the dead." Reggie made a very typical response, "My dear
Oscar, you were probably the life and soul of the party." This delighted
Oscar, who became high-spirited again, almost hysterical. I left feeling
rather anxious. That night I wrote to Douglas saying that I was
compelled to leave Paris--that the doctor thought Oscar very ill--that
---- ought to pay some of his bills as they worried him very much, and
the matter was retarding his recovery--a great point made by Dr. Tucker.
On November 2nd, All Souls' Day, I had gone to Pere la Chaise with ----.
Oscar was much interested and asked me if I had chosen a place for his
tomb. He discussed epitaphs in a perfectly light-hearted way, and I
never dreamt he was so near death.

On Monday, November 12th, I went to the Hotel d'Alsace with Reggie to
say good-bye, as I was leaving for the Riviera next day. It was late in
the evening after dinner. Oscar went all over his financial troubles. He
had just had a letter from Harris about the Smithers claim, and was much
upset; his speech seemed to me a little thick, but he had been given
morphia the previous night, and he always drank too much champagne
during the day. He knew I was coming to say good-bye, but paid little
attention when I entered the room, which at the time I thought rather
strange; he addressed all his observations to Reggie. While we were
talking, the post arrived with a very nice letter from Alfred Douglas,
enclosing a cheque. It was partly in response to my letter I think.
Oscar wept a little but soon recovered himself. Then we all had a
friendly discussion, during which Oscar walked around the room and
declaimed in rather an excited way. About 10.30 I got up to go. Suddenly
Oscar asked Reggie and the nurse to leave the room for a minute, as he
wanted to say good-bye. He rambled at first about his debts in Paris:
and then he implored me not to go away, because he felt that a great
change had come over him during the last few days. I adopted a rather
stern attitude, as I really thought that Oscar was simply hysterical,
though I knew that he was genuinely upset at my departure. Suddenly he
broke into a violent sobbing, and said he would never see me again
because he felt that everything was at an end--this ve