Good fortune began to smile upon Amelia when Joseph Sedley, once more
came back to England, a rich man, and with him Major Dobbin. But the
round of decorous pleasure in which the Sedley family now indulged was
soon broken by Mrs. Sedley's death, and old Sedley was not long in
following his wife whither she had preceded him.

A change was coming over old Osborne's mind. He found that Major Dobbin
was a distinguished officer, and one day looking into his grandson's
accounts he learnt that it was out of William Dobbin's own pocket the
fund had been supplied upon which the poor widow and the child had
subsisted.

Then the pair shook hands, and after that the Major would often come and
dine at the gloomy old house in Russell Square. He tried to soften the
old man and reconcile him towards his son's memory, and more than once
Mr. Osborne asked him about Mrs. George Osborne. A reconciliation was
announced as speedy and inevitable, when one morning old Osborne was
found lying at the foot of his dressing-table in a fit. He never could
speak again and in four days he died.

When the will was opened, it was seen that half the property was left to
his grandson, George, and the remainder to two married daughters. An
annuity of £500 was left to "the widow of my beloved son, George
Osborne," who was to resume the guardianship of the boy, and "Major
William Dobbin, my beloved son's friend," was appointed executor.

That summer Major Dobbin and Joseph Sedley escorted the widow and her
boy to the Continent and at Pumpernickel, in a happy valley in Germany,
Joseph renewed acquaintance with Mrs. Rawdon Crawley, and after a long
and confidential talk was convinced that Becky was the most virtuous as