| In the years that followed, John would marry his childhood sweetheart, Grace,
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| and they called their firstborn son Elzevir.
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| Fortune smiled on them, for on his deathbed, the jewel merchant,
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| Aldobrand begged forgiveness for having stolen the diamond, and in his will,
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| left great wealth to one John Trenchard of Moonfleet Village, Dorset,
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| whom he had so grievously wronged.
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| It is said that in his final hours, Aldobrand would cry out in terror,
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| speaking of a large man with a coppery face and a huge black beard,
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| who stood at the window — mocking.
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| John and Grace touched not one penny of the money, but laid it out in good
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| works, renewing the church, creating a hospital and building a lighthouse — a
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| welcome beacon to generations of sailors.
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| From time to time, John would return to the seashore, where the final words of
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| the friends who had saved him echoed in his heart.
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| And he loved it best when the waves were lashed to madness in an Autumn gale,
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| thanking God he was not fighting for his life in the roar of the surf.
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| For no other man before or since was taken alive from Moonfleet Bay. |