"The consequence of his action was that I got a ship," said the other.

"That could not do much harm," he added with a laugh which argued a

probably unconscious contempt of general ideas.

But Marlow was not put off. He was patient and reflective. He had been

at sea many years and I verily believe he liked sea-life because upon the

whole it is favourable to reflection. I am speaking of the now nearly

vanished sea-life under sail. To those who may be surprised at the

statement I will point out that this life secured for the mind of him who

embraced it the inestimable advantages of solitude and silence. Marlow

had the habit of pursuing general ideas in a peculiar manner, between

jest and earnest.

"Oh, I wouldn't suggest," he said, "that your namesake Mr. Powell, the

Shipping Master, had done you much harm. Such was hardly his intention.

And even if it had been he would not have had the power. He was but a

man, and the incapacity to achieve anything distinctly good or evil is

inherent in our earthly condition. Mediocrity is our mark. And perhaps

it's just as well, since, for the most part, we cannot be certain of the

effect of our actions."

"I don't know about the effect," the other stood up to Marlow manfully.

"What effect did you expect anyhow? I tell you he did something

uncommonly kind."

"He did what he could," Marlow retorted gently, "and on his own showing

that was not a very great deal. I cannot help thinking that there was

some malice in the way he seized the opportunity to serve you. He

managed to make you uncomfortable. You wanted to go to sea, but he

jumped at the chance of accommodating your desire with a vengeance. I am

inclined to think your cheek alarmed him. And this was an excellent

occasion to suppress you altogether. For if you accepted he was relieved

of you with every appearance of humanity, and if you made objections

(after requesting his assistance, mind you) it was open to him to drop

you as a sort of impostor. You might have had to decline that berth for

some very valid reason. From sheer necessity perhaps. The notice was

too uncommonly short. But under the circumstances you'd have covered

yourself with ignominy."

Our new friend knocked the ashes out of his pipe.

"Quite a mistake," he said. "I am not of the declining sort, though I'll

admit it was something like telling a man that you would like a bath and

in consequence being instantly knocked overboard to sink or swim with

your clothes on. However, I didn't feel as if I were in deep water at

first. I left the shipping office quietly and for a time strolled along

the street as easy as if I had a week before me to fit myself out. But

by and by I reflected that the notice was even shorter than it looked.

The afternoon was well advanced; I had some things to get, a lot of small

matters to attend to, one or two persons to see. One of them was an aunt

of mine, my only relation, who quarrelled with poor father as long as he

lived about some silly matter that had neither right nor wrong to it. She

left her money to me when she died. I used always to go and see her for

decency's sake. I had so much to do before night that I didn't know

where to begin. I felt inclined to sit down on the kerb and hold my head

in my hands. It was as if an engine had been started going under my

skull. Finally I sat down in the first cab that came along and it was a

hard matter to keep on sitting there I can tell you, while we rolled up

and down the streets, pulling up here and there, the parcels accumulating

round me and the engine in my head gathering more way every minute. The

composure of the people on the pavements was provoking to a degree, and

as to the people in shops, they were benumbed, more than half

frozen--imbecile. Funny how it affects you to be in a peculiar state of

mind: everybody that does not act up to your excitement seems so

confoundedly unfriendly. And my state of mind what with the hurry, the

worry and a growing exultation was peculiar enough. That engine in my

head went round at its top speed hour after hour till eleven at about at

night it let up on me suddenly at the entrance to the Dock before large

iron gates in a dead wall."




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