salad
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24332/24332-h/24332-h.htm
THE LIFE OF MRS. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
BY NELLIE VAN DE GRIFT SANCHEZ
LONDON, CHATTO & WINDUS, 1920
In a letter addressed to his friends shortly afterwards, Lloyd
Osbourne gives us the details of these last moments:
"At sunset he came downstairs, rallied his wife about the forebodings
she could not shake off; talked of a lecturing tour to America that he
was eager to make, 'as he was now so well,' and played a game of cards
with her to drive away her melancholy. He said he was hungry; begged
her assistance to help him make a salad for the evening meal; and to
enhance the little feast he brought up a bottle of old Burgundy from
the cellar. He was helping his wife on the veranda, and gaily talking,
when suddenly he put both hands to his head and cried out: 'What's
that?' Then he asked quickly: 'Do I look strange?' Even as he did so,
he fell on his knees beside her." Just as he had leaned upon her for
help, comfort, and advice for so many years of his life, so it was at
her feet that he sank in death when the last swift summons came. He
was helped into the great hall between his wife and his body servant,
Sosimo, and at ten minutes past eight the same evening, Monday,
December 3, 1894, he passed away.