His business had been decidedly prosperous, he had married into a respectable family, and his wife was popular.

His children were beautiful and healthy; but his wife was extravagant and foolish and had swept away his fortune faster than he could accumulate it.

Then his voyage and shipwreck seemed the hand of fate.

His father had been a sailor by profession and had never been shipwrecked, while he, on his first voyage, was cast away upon an unknown island.

Fate gave him at first a companion and, just as he began to appreciate her, snatched her away.
At last he became reconciled even to live and die alone on that island--to die without a friend to close his eyes, or to soothe his pillow.