Page:Last Will and Testament of Cecil Rhodes.djvu/191

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died at Muizenberg, a small cottage on the sea-coast near Cape Town, on March 26, 1902. The result of the post mortem examination showed that with the exception of the aneurismaneurysm [sic] of the heart, which caused an immense distension of that organ, he was in a perfectly healthy state. The heart trouble had been with him from his youth. When he attained manhood it abated somewhat, but after his fortieth year it returned, and gradually increased until his death, which did not come to his release until after some weeks of very agonising suffering. He was conscious to the very last, and attempted to transact business within a week of his decease. He was attended constantly by his old and faithful friend, Dr. Jameson, whose name was the last articulate word which escaped from his lips.

All the deep-seated tenderness of his nature, which led Bramwell Booth to describe him as having a great human heart hungering for love, found expression in these last days whenever he spoke or thought of Dr. Jameson. The affection which Mr. Rhodes entertained for the Doctor dated far back in the early days when they were at Kimberley together, and never varied through all the vicissitudes of his eventful career. At one time, when Dr. Jameson was ill and in prison, bearing the punishment for an enterprise the pre-