The wedding never took place; after Poe said goodbye to her, he left Richmond on September 27, 1849, and died mysteriously only two weeks later in Baltimore. Royster recalled her last moments with him: "He came up to my house on the evening of 26 Sept. to take leave of me.–He was very sad, and complained of being quite sick... I felt so wretched about him all of that night, that I went up early the next morning to enquire after him, when, much to my regret, he had left in the boat for Baltimore." On his deathbed, Poe mentioned a wife he had in Richmond, possibly referring to Royster. Biographer John Evangelist Walsh suggests that Royster's brothers were responsible for Poe's mysterious death.