He notices the death of Captain Mayne Reid on the 31st of October.
Richard's First Bad Attack of Gout.
On the 31st of November Richard really got so bad he alarmed me, for he nearly fainted, and I got the master of the Opçina Inn (Daneu) to help me to bring him down to Trieste, and had rooms prepared on the other side of our house; and about four hours after, in his new warm room, he got perfectly well. It was a curious kind of gout, because he would seem to be in agonies of pain, and after trying no end of things, one would suddenly hit upon something quite simple that took it all away. He was well enough in a day or two to lunch on board the Bokhara, and also the P. and O. Gwalior. We got tired of consulting doctors, and we sent for the wife of the Schinder (the dog-slaughterer), who lived up in the forest of Prevald, and was reported to be a wise woman. She said that Richard had mandrone, or flying pains. The worst was, that as soon as he was a little bit better he would forget what he had suffered, and commit some little imprudence, like going out in the Bora; it was so hard for him to believe he ever could be an invalid.
We went out a great many drives, which did him more good than anything. Sometimes he would pay visits. We used to go to Miramar and sit out in the gardens.
I found the best way was to take him about a great deal to different places. I always contrived that he saw plenty of people, asking amusing people to dine or breakfast. I got then an attack of peritonitis that kept me in bed for a week; fortunately Richard and I were never ill at the same time, and I was up and able to attend him when he got his gout back again.
In the night of the 19th, the Admiralty (situated below our house) took fire, and the roof was burnt out.
We were able also to keep our St. Silvester with the Gutmansthals, but so many people had gone away, that it was not the same as the year before.
On the 6th of December, 1883, he puts the following notice in his journal in red ink:—
"To-day, eleven years ago, I came here; what a shame!!!"
He notices the death of Richard Doyle the 11th of December.