He had only taken, as I have said, a little broth and two spoonfuls of arrowroot for eight days. He took the quinine, and showed by signs that he wanted to sleep; he did not speak again unless questioned.
"Would you like me to fetch Mr. Parry?" Fletcher asked him.
"Yes, go and fetch him," he replied.
A moment later, the valet returned with him. Mr. Parry leant over his bed, and Byron became excited as he recognised him.
"Lie quite quiet," said Mr. Parry; and the invalid shed a few tears and then seemed to fall asleep.
This was the beginning of a state of coma that lasted nearly twenty-four hours.
Then, towards eight in the evening, he roused, and Fletcher heard him say, "And now I must go to sleep...."
They were the last words he uttered. His head fell back motionless on his pillow. He never moved for twenty-four hours; there were occasional spasms of suffocation and a raucous sound in his breathing: that was all. Fletcher called Tita to help him raise the head of the invalid, who seemed quite numbed, and the two servants raised his head every time the signs of suffocation returned.
This lasted until the 19th, when, at six in the evening, Byron opened and closed his eyes without any sign of pain and without moving any other part of his body.