his family or his Creature, should be able to speak in such measured terms of a balance
among multiple duties is certainly an indication of the objectivity and even wisdom
to which he may aspire when he moves outside his own narrow concerns. That he specifically
steps back from the coercive tone by which he had earlier tried to enlist Walton as
his agent in murder (III:7:26) likewise testifies to his rediscovery of a moral center
in his last hours of life.