"She might have made a good man of me, if I had let her have her way," he thought to himself. "I know that she is in heaven. Will she plead for me, I wonder, at the foot of the Great Throne? I used to laugh at her bad English, or fly in a passion with her sometimes, poor soul, when I wanted her to pass for a lady, and she broke down outrageously. But there her voice will be heard when mine appeals in vain. Dear soul! I wonder who taught her to be so pure and unselfish, and trusting and faithful? She was a Christian without knowing it. 'I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.'" He thought of his wife's lonely deathbed, and compared it with his own. For him there was luxury; by him watched a devoted and all-forgiving daughter, a generous friend and son-in-law. All that could be done to soothe the painful descent was done for him. For her there had been nothing but loneliness and sorrow. "But she might be certain of a speedy welcome in a better home," thought Horatio; "and I--? Ah, dear kind creature, _there_ the difference was all in her favour." As the closing scene grew nearer, he thought more and more of his gentle low-born wife, whose hold upon him in life had been so slender, whose memory had occupied until now so insignificant a place in his mind. His daughter watched with him unceasingly in the last two days and nights. His mind wandered. On the day of his death he mistook Diana for that long-lost companion. "I have not been a kind husband, Mary, my dear," he faltered "but the world has been hard upon me--debts--difficulties--crack regiment--expensive mess--set of gamblers--no pity on a young man without fortune--force of example--tied a millstone round my wretched neck before I was twenty-one years of age." Later, when the doctor had felt his pulse for the last time, he cried out suddenly, "I have made a statement of my affairs, the liabilities are numerous--the assets nil; but I rely on the clemency of this court." These were his last words. He sank into a kind of stupor betwixt sleeping and waking, and in this he died. CHAPTER VII. BETTER THAN GOLD. The little fleet of paper boats which Mr. Sheldon had pioneered so skilfully over the commercial seas came to grief very soon after the disappearance of the admiral. A bill drawn upon the Honduras Mahogany Company, Limited, was the first to reach maturity. The bill was referred to the drawer--the drawer was not to be found. "I have not seen Sheldon for the last fortnight," Mr. Orcott informed the gentleman who brought him the document. "Out of business for a fortnight?"