p
dispatched with it to England, where she duly arrived; the net result of
the adventure being a big profit for the fortunate consignees. These
gentlemen were Scotchmen, and although persons of that nationality have
the reputation of keeping a very tight hand upon the bawbees, I am bound
to say that they treated Gurney, Saunders, and myself with a liberality,
not to say generosity, that left nothing to be desired, although of
course we had no claim on them. The result being that not only were we
able to maintain ourselves most comfortably in Sydney while awaiting the
return of the corvette from the island, but also to return afterwards to
England as first-class passengers. That is to say, Gurney, Grace
Hartley, and I did so; but Saunders remained in the colony and
eventually became a prosperous and exceedingly wealthy sheep farmer. As
for Gurney, he lost no time in making Grace Hartley his wife, I
officiating as best man on the occasion.

We all three went home together in the cuddy of the same ship, and upon
our arrival it was my happy privilege to be the means of opening the
negotiations with his father--Sir George Burnley, baronet, of Chudleigh
Grange, Devon--that resulted in a complete and permanent reconciliation
between the two. Gurney--or Burnley, to give him his correct name--had
learned his lesson while passing through the fires of adversity. He had
learned, in the school of experience--that best of all schools--that the
so-called pleasures of sin endure but for a very brief season and are
inevitably followed by misery, suffering, shame, and self-contempt
beyond all power of words to express; and he had the resolution and
strength to pull himself together and become once more a man, in the
best and highest sense of the term, before it was too late and mental,
moral, and physical ruin, complete and irretrievable, had overtaken him.
He had the joy of seeing his father's belief and pride in him fully
restored, and of making that father's declining years easy, pleasant,
and happy. Now he reigns in that father's stead, honoured, respected,
and beloved by all, and the pride and joy of his wife and children.

As for me, my pearls, when at length I had succeeded in converting them
into money, produced so unexpectedly magnificent a fortune that not only
was I enabled by its means to obtain a commanding interest in the
corporation which owned the Gold Star line of sailing clippers, but also
very materially to ass