"No, Sir, no one was with him but my wife, he was mainly fond of her, and she nursed him, and gave him his physic, and didn't leave him, night or day, till he left us all for t'other world." "I believe, gardener, he was an infidel, and did not believe in the existence of another world." "It happened to him, Sir, as it has happened to others before him; when death got near him his infidelity forsook him, and then his belief of another world was as strong as the apostle Paul's, so I heard my wife say." "Do you know how he felt in the prospect of dying?" "I heard my wife say it was a dismal scene. She trembled at night when she was left by herself with him." "Do you know if Mr. Tennent saw him during his illness?" "I heard my wife say that he saw him once, and they had high words." "You don't mean they quarrelled." "Why, no, Sir, not exactly that, but I heard my wife say that when Mr. Tennent went into his room one morning, just after breakfast, master said to him, _you see, Tennent, what you and your infidelity has done for me_. _I shall go down in this storm, and be lost._ Mr. Tennent said something in reply, so I heard my wife say, but I can't mind what, for I have been in a power of trouble since master's death, for he was a good master to me. He never went into the room after that morning, so I heard my wife say." "Do you know if he had any hope of salvation before he died?" "No, Sir, I don't think he had. I heard my wife say that master said next to nothing all along through his sickness, but that one awful saying, _I shall go down in this storm, and be lost_. He said that, Sir, so I heard my wife say, just as he was a-dying. My wife is in sore trouble about master's soul, for he was a good master to her. I tell you what, Sir, this infidelity is a bad thing. It makes people bold in wickedness and contempt of God when they are in health, but their courage leaves them when death comes. They are desperate cowards then." "Well, gardener, I hope it will be a warning to you." "I hope, Sir, you don't think that I be an infidel. No, Sir, I love my Bible, and so does my wife. An infidel! no, Sir; and I often told master he would repent of it some day. I can't, Sir, get the terrible words out of my ears--I shall go down in this storm, and be lost. In that storm master did go down. Good night, Sir; it's too awful to think about." The funeral was conducted with great pomp; and when passing the gardener's cottage some days afterwards, I stepped in and saw his wife, who was in mourning for her late master. After a few leading inquiries, I got her to tell me what passed when Mr. Tennent went to see his dying friend.