He travelled in Europe in hopes of finding a cure. In Avignon he met John Stuart Mill, and through Mill he met John Russell, Viscount Amberley. Russell was the son of the former British Prime Minister Lord John Russell. Spalding became tutor to Viscount Amberley's children, including perhaps the very young Bertrand Russell. He also carried on an intermittent affair with Katharine Russell, Lord Amberley's wife. After the Lord Amberley's death in 1876, Spalding returned to the continent and died there the following year.