The Story of the House of Cassell
regret that the last stages of so brilliantly successful a career should have been clouded with disappointment.
The late Bonavia Hunt, for many years editor of the Quiver, recorded a glimpse of Cassell in the last few months of his life: "His visits to the Yard were then so infrequent that his private room was occasionally used by others, the accommodation for the growing business of the House being more and more crowded; and I, as the last editorial 'fresher,' was given a small table in Mr. Cassell's room, which I might use on days when he was not expected. But the unexpected always happens; and one day he marched into the room with his attendant and caught me writing there. 'Ah!' he cried, 'who is this young man, and how dare he intrude himself here?' Instantly I snatched up my papers and bolted, but peace was made for me, and in future I was allowed the use of the room under specified conditions. After his death I was permitted to have the small table in my own office as a memento of the man and the incident, and I retained it till I left the House forty years afterwards—1905. I always had a sentimental regard for that table."
Cassell spent the Christmas of 1863 at Cannes with his wife and daughter, who were passing the winter there. Soon after his return it became evident to all that something was seriously wrong with his health. Various methods of treatment were prescribed, but they proved unavailing, and he continued to lose strength, although with characteristic courage he went on working hard, undertaking journeys to Scotland and Ireland; and he wrote to his daughter with much of his old buoyant cheerfulness. Up to within three days of his death he continued to dictate letters to his secretary.
Then, on April 2, 1865—the day also of his friend Cobden's death—the end came. It is said that he had begged to be moved from the bed to his favourite couch. As this was being done he whispered: "It is very dark." Presently his face brightened, and he murmured: "No! it is all light now." Six days later he was buried
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