Oscar got me over to Paris in September under the pretext that he was ill; but I found him as well as could be, and anxious merely to get more money out of me by any means.  I put it all down to his poverty.  I did not then know that Ross was giving him L150 a year; that indeed all his friends had helped him and were helping him with singular generosity, and I recalled the fact that when he had had money he never showed any meanness, or any desire to over-reach.  Want is a dreadful teacher, and I did not hold Oscar altogether responsible for his weird attitude to me personally.

OSCAR’S LAST DAYS!

LETTER FROM ROBERT ROSS TO ——­

Dec. 14th, 1900.

On Tuesday, October 9th, I wrote to Oscar, from whom I had not heard for some time, that I would be in Paris on Thursday, October the 18th, for a few days, when I hoped to see him.  On Thursday, October 11th, I got a telegram from him as follows:—­“Operated on yesterday—­come over as soon as possible.”  I wired that I would endeavour to do so.  A wire came in response, “Terribly weak—­please come.”  I started on the evening of Tuesday, October 16th.  On Wednesday morning I went to see him about 10.30.  He was in very good spirits; and though he assured me his sufferings were dreadful, at the same time he shouted with laughter and told many stories against the doctors and himself.  I stayed until 12.30 and returned about 4.30, when Oscar recounted his grievances about the Harris play.  Oscar, of course, had deceived Harris about the whole matter—­as far as I could make out the story—­Harris wrote the play under the impression that only Sedger had to be bought off at L100, which Oscar had received in advance for the commission; whereas Kyrle Bellew, Louis Nethersole, Ada Rehan, and even Smithers, had all given Oscar L100 on different occasions, and all threatened Harris with proceedings—­Harris, therefore, only gave Oscar L50 on account,[59] as he was obliged to square these people first—­hence Oscar’s grievance.  When I pointed out to him that he was in a much better position than formerly, because Harris, at any rate, would eventually pay off the people who had advanced money and that Oscar would eventually get something himself, he replied in the characteristic way, “Frank has deprived me of my only source of income by taking a play on which I could always have raised L100.”

I continued to see Oscar every day until I left Paris.  Reggie and myself sometimes dined or lunched in his bedroom, when he was always very talkative, although he looked very ill.  On October 25th, my brother Aleck came to see him, when Oscar was in particularly good form.  His sister-in-law, Mrs. Willie, and her husband, Texeira, were then passing through Paris on their honeymoon, and came at the same time.  On this occasion he said he was “dying above his means” ... he would never outlive the century