"Floy," he said, "what is that--there at the bottom of the bed?" "There's nothing there except papa." The figure lifted up its head and rose, and said, "My own boy! Don't you know me?" Paul looked it in the face, and thought, was that his father? The next time he observed the figure at the bottom of the bed, he called to it. "Don't be sorry for me, dear papa. Indeed, I am quite happy." That was the beginning of his always saying in the morning that he was a great deal better, and that they were to tell his father so. How many times the golden water danced upon the wall, how many nights the dark, dark river rolled towards the sea, Paul never counted, never sought to know. One night he had been thinking of his mother, and her picture in the drawing-room downstairs. "Floy, did I ever see mamma?" "No, darling." The river was running very fast now, and confusing his mind. Paul fell asleep, and when he awoke the sun was high. "Floy, come close to me, and let me see you." Sister and brother wound their arms around each other, and the golden light came streaming in, and fell upon them locked together. "How fast the river runs between its green banks and the rushes, Floy! But it's very near the sea. I hear the waves. They always said so." Presently he told her that the motion of the boat upon the stream was lulling him to rest, now the boat was out at sea but gliding smoothly on. And now there was a shore before him. Who stood on the bank? He put his hands together, as he had been used to do at his prayers. He did not remove his arms to do it, but they saw him fold them so behind her neck. "Mamma is like you, Floy. I know her by the face! The light about her head is shining on me as I go." The golden ripple on the wall came back again, and nothing else stirred in the room. The old, old fashion! The fashion that came in with our first parents, and will last unchanged until our race has run its course, and the wide firmament is rolled up like a scroll. The old, old fashion--Death! _V.--The End of Dombey and Son_ The stonemason to whom Mr. Dombey gave his order for a tablet in the church, in memory of little Paul, called his attention to the inscription "Beloved and only child," and said, "It should be 'son,' I think, sir?" "You are right, of course. Make the correction." And there came a time when it was to Florence, and Florence only, that Mr. Dombey turned. For the great house of Dombey and Son fell, and in the crash its proud head became a ruined man, ruined beyond recovery. Bankrupt in purse, his personal pride was yet further humbled. For Mr. Dombey had married again, a loveless match, and his wife deserted him. In the hour when he discovered that desertion he had driven his daughter Florence from the house. He was fallen now never to be raised up any more. For the night of his worldly ruin there was no to-morrow's sun, for the stain of his domestic shame there was no purification.