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Part two, Chapter six, Section three of Chance by Joseph Conrad.
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This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
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Peter Dan Chance, Part two, Chapter six, Section three truly
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commented Marlowe brought to Bay was not a bad comparison,
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a better one than mister Powell was aware of at
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that moment. The appearance of Flora could not but bring
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the tension to the breaking point. She came out in
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all innocence, but not without vague dread. Anthony's exclamation on
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first seeing Powell had reached her in her cabin, where
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it seemed she was brushing her hair. She had heard
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the very words what are you doing here? And the
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unwonted loudness of the voice, His voice breaking the habitual
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stillness of that hour would have startled a person having
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much less reason to be constantly apprehensive than the captive
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of Anthony's masterful generosity. She had no means to guess
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to whom the question was addressed, and had echoed in
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our heart as Anthony's voice always did, followed complete silence.
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She waited, anxious, expectant, till she could stand the strain
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no longer, and with the weary mental appeal of the overburdened.
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My God, what is it now? She opened the door
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of her room and looked into the saloon. Her first
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glance fell on Powell. For a moment, Seeing only the
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second officer with Anthony, she felt relieved and made as
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if to draw back, But her sharpened perception detected something
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suspicious in their attitudes, and she came forward slowly. I
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was the first to see Missus Anthony, related Powell, because
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I was facing aft. The captain, noticing my eyes, looked
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quickly over his shoulder, and at once put his finger
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to his lips to caution me as if I were
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likely to let out anything. Before her, Missus Anthony had
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on a dressing gown of some gray stuff with red
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facings and a thick red cord round her waist. Her
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hair was down to child, a pale faced child with
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big blue eyes and a red mouth a little open,
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showing a glimmer of white teeth. The light fell strongly
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on her as she came up to the end of
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the table. A strange child, though she hardly affected one
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like a child. I remember, you know, exclaimed mister Powell,
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who clearly must have been like many seamen and industrious reader.
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Do you know what she looked like to me? With
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those big eyes and something appealing in her whole expression,
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she looked like a forsaken alf Captain Anthony had moved
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forward to keep her away from my end of the table,
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where the tray was. I had never seen them so
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near to each other before, and it made a great contrast.
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It was wonderful, for with his beard cut to a point,
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his swarthy, sunburnt complexion, thin nose, and his lean head,
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there was something African, something Moorish in Captain Anthony. His
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neck was bare. He had taken off his coat and
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collar and had drawn on his sleeping jacket the time
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he had been absent from the saloon. I seemed to
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see him now, Missus Anthony too. She looked from him
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to me I suppose I looked guilty or frightened, and
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from me to him, trying to guess what there was
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between us two. Then she burst out with a what
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has happened? Which seemed addressed to me. I mumbled nothing, nothing, ma'am,
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which she very likely did not hear. You must not
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think that all this had lasted a long time. She
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had taken fright at our behavior and turned to the
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captain pitifully, What is it you are concealing from me?
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A straight question? Eh, I don't know what answer the
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Captain would have made. Before he could even raise his
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eyes to her, she cried out, ah, here is Papa,
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in a sharp tone of relief. But directly afterwards she
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looked to me as if she were holding her breath
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with apprehension. I was so interested in her that, now,
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shall I say it? Her exclamation made no connection in
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my mind. At first. I also noticed that she had
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sidled up a little nearer to Captain Anthony before it
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occurred to me to turn my head. I can tell
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you that my neck stiffened in the twisted position from
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the shock of actually seeing that old man he had dared.
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I suppose you think I ought to have looked upon
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him as mad, but I couldn't. It would have been
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certainly easier, but I could not. You should have seen him.
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First of all, He was completely dressed, with his very
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cap still on his head, just as when he left
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me on deck two hours before, saying in his soft voice,
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the moment has come to go to bed, while he
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meant to go down and do that thing and hide
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in his dark cabin and watch the stuff do its work.
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A cold shudder ran down my back. He had his
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hands in the pockets of his jacket, his arms were
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pressed close to his thin, upright body, and he shuffled
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across the cabin with his short steps. There was a
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red patch on each of his old soft cheeks, as
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if somebody had been pinching them. He drooped his head
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a little and looked with a sort of underhand expectation
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at the Captain and Missus Anthony standing close together at
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the other end of the saloon, the calculating horrible impudence
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of it. His daughter was there, and I am certainly
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he had seen the Captain putting his finger on his
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lips to warn me, and then he had coolly come out.
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He passed my imagination, I assure you, after that one shiver.
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His presence killed every faculty in me wonder, horror, indignation.
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I felt nothing in particular, just as if he were
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still the old gentleman who used to talk to me
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familiarly every day on deck. Would you believe it? Mister
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Powell challenged my powers of wonder at this internal phenomenon,
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went on marlow after a slight pause, but even if
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they had not been fully engaged, together with all my
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powers of attention in following the facts of the case,
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I would not have been astonished by his statements about himself,
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Taking into consideration his youth, they were by no means incredible,
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or at any rate, they were the least incredible part
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of the whole. They were also the least interesting part.
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The interest was elsewhere, and there, of course, all he
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could do was to look at the surface. The inwardness
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of what was passing before his eyes was hidden from him,
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who had looked on, more impenetrably than from me, who,
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at a distance of years, was listening to his words.
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What presently happened at this crisis in Flora. De Barrel's
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fate was beyond his power of comment, seemed in a
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sense natural, and his own presence on the scene was
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so strangely motived that it was left to me to
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marvel alone at this young man, a completely chance comer,
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having brought it about on that night. Each situation, created
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either by folly or wisdom, has its psychological moment. The
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behavior of young Powell, with its mixture of boyish impulses
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combined with instinctive prudence, had not created it. I can't
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say that, but had discovered it to the very people involved.
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What would have happened if he had made a noise
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about his discovery? But he didn't. His head was full
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of Missus Anthony, and he behaved with a discretion beyond
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his years. Some nice children often do, and surely it
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is not from reflection. They have their own inspirations. Young
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Powell's inspiration consisted in being enthusiastic about Missus Anthony. Enthusiastic
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is really good, and he was amongst them like a child, sensitive, impressionable, plastic,
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but unable to find for himself any sort of comment.
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I don't know how much mind may be worth, but
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I believe that just then the tension of the false
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situation was at its highest. Of all the forms offered
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to us by life, it is the one demanding a
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couple to realize it fully, which is the most imperative.
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Pairing off is the fate of mankind. And if two
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beings thrown together mutually attracted, resist the necessity, fail in understanding,
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and voluntarily stop short of the embrace in the noblest
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meaning of the word, then they are committing a sin
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against life, the call of which is simple, perhaps sacred,
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and the punishment of it is an invasion of complexity,
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a tormenting, forcibly tortuous involution of feelings, the deepest form
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of suffering, from which, indeed something significant may come at last,
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which may be criminal or heroic, may be madness or wisdom,
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or even a straight, if despairing decision. Powell, on taking
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his eyes off the old Gentleman, noticed Captain Anthony, swarthy
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as an African, by the side of flora whiter than
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the lilies, take his handkerchief out and wipe off his
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forehead the sweat of anguish, like a man who has overcome,
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and no wonder, commented mister Powell. Here then the captain said,
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hadn't you better go back to your room? Was to
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missus Anthony. He tried to smile at her. Why do
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you look startled? This night is like any other night,
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which Powell again commented to me earnestly, was a lie.
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No wonder he sweated. You see from this the value
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of Powell's comments. Missus Anthony then said, why are you
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sending me away? Why that you should go to sleep,
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That you should rest, And Captain Anthony frowned. Then sharply
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you stay here, mister Powell, I shall want you presently.
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As a matter of fact, Powell had not moved. Flora
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did not mind his presence. He himself had the feeling
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of being of no account to those three people. He
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was looking at Missus Anthony as unabashed as the proverbial
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cat looking at a king. Missus Anthony glanced at him,
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she did not move, Gripped by an inexplicable premonition, she
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had arrived at the very limit of her endurance as
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the object of Anthony's magnanimity. She was the prey of
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an intuitive dread of She did not know what mysterious influence.
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She felt herself being pushed back into that solitude, that
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moral loneliness which had made all her life intolerable. And then,
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in that close communion established again with Anthony, she felt,
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as on that night in the garden, the force of
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his personal fascination. The passive quietness with which she looked
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at him, gave her the appearance of a person bewitched,
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or say, mesmerically, put to sleep, beyond any notion of
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her surroundings. After telling mister Powell not to go away,
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the Captain remained silent. Suddenly, missus Anthony pushed back her
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loose hair with a decisive gesture of her arms and
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moved still nearer to him. Here is Papa up yet,
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she said, but she did not look towards mister Smith.
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Why is it and you? I can't go on like this, Roderick,
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between you too? Don't? Anthony interrupted her, as if something
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had untied his tongue. Oh, yes, here's your father, and
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why not? Perhaps it is just as well you came
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out between us two? Is that it? I won't pretend
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I don't understand. I am not blind, but I can't
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fight any longer for what I haven't got. I don't
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know what you imagine has happened. Something has though, only
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you needn't be afraid. No shadow can touch you because
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I give up. I can't say we had much talk
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about it, your father and I. But the long and
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the short of it is that I must learn to
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live without you, which I have told you was impossible.
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I was speaking the truth. But I have done fighting
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or waiting or hoping, Yes, you shall go. At this point,
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mister Powell, who he confessed to me, was listening with
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uncomprehending or heard behind his back, a triumphant chuckling sound.
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It gave him the shudders. He said to mention it now.
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But at the time, except for another chill down the spine,
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it had not the power to destroy his absorption in
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the scene before his eyes, and before his ears too,
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because just then Captain Anthony raised his voice grimly. Perhaps
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he too hadhered the chuckle of the old man. Your
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father has found an argument which makes me pause. If
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it does not convince me, No, I can't answer it.
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I I don't want to answer it. I simply surrender.
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He shall have his way with you and with me only,
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he added, in a gloomy, lowered tone, which struck mister
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Powers off. A pedal had been put down. Only it
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shall take a little time. I have never lied to you. Never.
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I renounced not only my chance but my life in
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a few days, directly we get into port the very
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moment we do, I who have said I could never
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let you go, I shall let you go. To the
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innocent beholder. Anthony seemed at this point to become physically exhausted.
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My view is that the utter falseness of his I
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may say aspirations, the vanity of grasping the empty air
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had come to him with an overwhelming force, leaving him
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disarmed before the other's mad and sinister sincerity. As he
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had said himself, he could not fight for what he
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did not possess. He could not face such a thing
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as this for the sake of his mere magnanimity. The
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normal alone can overcome the abnormal. He could not even
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reproach that man over there. I own myself beaten, he said,
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in a firmer tone, you are free. I let you off,
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since I must Powell. The onlooker affirms that at these
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incomprehensible words, Missus Anthony stiffened into the very image of astonishment,
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with a frightened stare and frozen lips. But next minute
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a cry came out from her heart, not very loud,
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but of a quality which made not only Captain Anthony
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he was not looking at her, not only him, but
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also the more distant and equally unprepared young man catch
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their breath. But I don't want to be let off,
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she cried. She was so still that one asked oneself
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whether the cry had come from her. The restless shuffle
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behind Powell's back stopped short. The intermittent shadowy chuckling ceased too.
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Young Powell, glancing round, saw mister Smith raise his head
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with his faded eyes very still, pucket at the corners
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like a man perceiving something coming at him from a
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great distance, and Missus Anthony's voice reached Powell's ears, entreating
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and indignant. You can't cast me off like this, Roderick.
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I won't go away from him. I won't Palell turned
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about and discovered then that what mister Smith was puckering
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his eyes at was the sight of his daughter clinging
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round Captain Anthony's neck, a sight not in itself improper,
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but which had the power to move young Powell with
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a bash profound emotion. It was different from his emotion
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whilst spying at the revelations of the skylight. But in
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this case too, he felt the discomfort, if not the
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guilt of an unseen beholder experience, was being piled up
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on his young shoulders. Missus Anthony's hair hung back in
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a dark mass, like the hair of a drowned woman.
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She looked as if she would let go and sink
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to the floor if the captain were to withhold his
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sustaining arm. But the captain obviously had no such intention.
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Standing firm and still, he gazed with somber eyes at
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mister Smith. For a time, the low, convulsive sobbing of
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mister Smith's daughter was the only sound to trouble the silence.
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The strength of Anthony's clasp pressing Flora to his breast
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could not be doubted even at that distance, and suddenly,
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awakening to his opportunity, he began to partly support her,
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partly carry her in the direction of her cabin. His
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head was bent over her solicitously, then recollecting himself with
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a glance full of unwonted fire, his voice ringing in
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a note unknown to mister Powell, he cried to him,
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don't you go on deck yet. I want you to
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stay here till I come back. There are some instructions
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I want to give you. And before the young man
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could answer, Anthony had disappeared in the stern cabin, burdened
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and exulting instructions, commented mister Powell. That was all right,
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very likely, But they would be such instructions, as I
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thought to myself, no ship's officer perhaps, had ever been
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given before. It made me feel a little sick to
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think what they would be dealing with probably, But there
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everything that happens on board ship on the high seas
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has got to be dealt with somehow. There are no
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special people to fly to for assistance. And there I
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was with that old man left in my charge. When
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he noticed me looking at him, he started to shuffle
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again athwart the saloon. He kept his hand rammed in
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his pockets. He was there's a stiff backed as ever,
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only his head hung down. After a bit, he says,
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in his gentle, soft tone, did you see it? There
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were in Powell's head no special words to fit the
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horror of his feelings, so he said, yet to say something? Good, God,
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what are you thinking of? Mister Smith? To try to?
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And then he left off. He dared not utter the
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awful word poison. Mister Smith stopped his prow think what
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do you know of thinking? I don't think there is
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something in my head that thinks the thoughts of men.
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It's like being drunk with liquor, or you can't stop them.
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A man who thinks will think anything. No, but have
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you seen it? Have you? I tell you I have?
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I am certain, said Powell, forcibly. I was looking at
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you all the time. You have done something to the
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drink in that glass. Then Powell lost his breath some
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Now mister Smith looked at him curiously with mistrust. My
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good young man, I don't know what you are talking about.
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I ask you. Have you seen who would have believed it?
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With her arms round his neck? When oh ha ha,
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did you see, didn't you? It wasn't a delusion? Was it?
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Her arms round? But I have never wholly trusted her.
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Then I flew out at him, said mister Powell. I
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told him he was jolly lucky to have fallen upon
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Captain Anthony, a man in a million. He started again,
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shuffling to and fro You too, he said, mournfully, keeping
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his eyes down, Eh, wonderful man, But have you a
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notion who I am? Listen? I have been the great
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mister de Baryl. So they printed it in the papers
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while they were getting up a conspiracy, and I have
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been doing time. And now I am brought low. His
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voice died down to a mere breath. Brought low. He
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took his hands out of his pocket, dragged the cap
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down on his head, and stuck them back into his pockets,
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exactly as if preparing himself to go out into a
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great wind, but not so low as to put up
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with this disgrace. To see her fast in this fellow's
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clutches without doing something, She wouldn't listen to me. Frightened, silly,
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I had to think of some way to get her
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out of this. Did you think she cared for him? No?
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Would anybody have thought so? No? She pretended it was
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for my sake. She couldn't understand that. If I hadn't
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been an old man, I would have flown at his
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throat months ago. As it was, I was tempted every
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time he looked at her, my girl, Oh, any man,
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But this, and all the time the wicked little fool
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was lying to me. It was their plot, their conspiracy.
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These conspiracies are the devil. She has been leading me
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on till she has fairly put my head under the
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heel of that jailer, of that scoundrel of her husband, treachery,
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bringing me low lower than herself in the dirt. That's
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what it means, doesn't it? Under his heel? He paused
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in his restless shuffle, and again, seizing his cap with
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both hands, dragged it furiously right down on his ears.
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Pawle had lost himself in listening to these broken ravings,
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in looking at that old feverish face. When suddenly, quick
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as lightning, mister Smith spun round, snatched up the Captain's glass,
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and with a stifled, hurried exclamation, here's luck, tossed the
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liquor down his throat. I know now the meaning of
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the word consternation went on, mister Powell. That was exactly
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my state of mind. I thought to myself directly, there's
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nothing in that drink I have been dreaming. I have
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made the awfullest mistake. Mister Smith put the glass down.
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He stood before Powell, unharmed, quieted down in a listening attitude,
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his head inclined on one side, chewing his thin lips.
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Suddenly he blinked queerly, grabbed Powell's shouldered and collapsed, subsiding
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all at once, as though he had gone soft all
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over as a piece of silk stuff collapses. Pale seized
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his arm instinctively and checked his fall, But as soon
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as mister Smith was fairly on the floor, he jerked
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himself free and backed away. Almost as quick he rushed
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forward again and tried to lift up the body, but
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directly he raised his shoulders. He knew that the man
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was dead dead, he lowered him down gently. He stood
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over him, without fear or any other feeling almost indifferent,
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far away as it were. And then he made another start.
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And if he had not kept Missus Anthony always in
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his mind, he would have let out a yell for help.
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He staggered to her cabin door, and as it was,
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his call for Captain Anthony burst out of him, much
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too loud. But he made a great effort of self control.
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I am waiting for my orders, sir. He sat outside
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that door distinctly, in a steady tone. It was very
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still in there, still as death. Then he heard a
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shuffle of feet and the Captain's voice, all right coming.
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He leant his back against the bulkhead, as you see
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a drunken man sometimes propped up against a wall, half
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doubled up. In that attitude. The Captain found him when
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he came out, pulling the door to after him quickly.
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At once Anthony let his eyes run all over the
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cabin pal without a word, clutched his forearm, led him
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round the end of the table, and began to justify himself.
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I couldn't stop him, he whispered, shakily. He was too
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quick for me. He trank it up and fell down.
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But the Captain and was not listening. He was looking
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down at mister Smith, thinking perhaps that it was a
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mere chance his own body was not lying there. They
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did not want to speak. They made signs to each
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other with their eyes. The Captain grasped Powell's shoulder as
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if in a vice, and glanced at Missus Anthony's cabin door,
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and it was enough. He knew that the young man
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understood him. Rather silence, silence forever about this, their very
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glances became stealthy. Powell looked from the body to the
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door of the dead man's stateroom. The Captain nodded and
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let him go, and then Powell crept over, hooked the
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door open, and crept back, with fearful glances towards Missus
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Anthony's cabin. They stooped over the corpse. Captain Anthony lifted
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up the shoulders. Mister Powell shuddered, I'll never forget that
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interminable journey across the saloon, step by step, holding our
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breath for part of the way. The drawn half of
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the curtain concealed us from view. Had Missus Anthony opened
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her door, But I didn't draw a free breath till
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after we'd laid the body down on the swinging cot.
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The reflection of the saloon light left most of the
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cabin in the shadow. Mister Smith's rigid, extended body looked shadowy, too,
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shadowy and alive. You know. He always carried himself as
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stiff as a poker. We stood by the cot as
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though waiting for him to make a sign that he
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wanted to be left alone. The captain threw his arm
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over my shoulder and said, in my very ear, the
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steward'll find him in the morning. I made no answer.
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It was for him to say it was perhaps the
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best way. There's no use talking about my thoughts. They
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were not concerned with myself, nor yet with that old
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man who terrified me more now than when he was alive.
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Him whom I pitied was the captain. He whispered, I
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am certain of you, mister Powell. You had better go
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on deck now as to me, And I saw him
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raise his hands to his head, as if distracted with
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his last words before we stole out of that cab,
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and stick to my mind, with a very tone of
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his mutter to himself, not to me, No, no, I
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am not going to stumble now over that corpse. End
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of Part two, Chapter six, Section three,
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00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:05.160
Part two, Chapter six, Section three of Chance by Joseph Conrad.
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00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:09.359
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
3
00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:15.599
Peter Dan Chance, Part two, Chapter six, Section three truly
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commented Marlowe brought to Bay was not a bad comparison,
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a better one than mister Powell was aware of at
6
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that moment. The appearance of Flora could not but bring
7
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the tension to the breaking point. She came out in
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all innocence, but not without vague dread. Anthony's exclamation on
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first seeing Powell had reached her in her cabin, where
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it seemed she was brushing her hair. She had heard
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the very words what are you doing here? And the
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00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:46.439
unwonted loudness of the voice, His voice breaking the habitual
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stillness of that hour would have startled a person having
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much less reason to be constantly apprehensive than the captive
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of Anthony's masterful generosity. She had no means to guess
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to whom the question was addressed, and had echoed in
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our heart as Anthony's voice always did, followed complete silence.
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She waited, anxious, expectant, till she could stand the strain
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no longer, and with the weary mental appeal of the overburdened.
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My God, what is it now? She opened the door
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of her room and looked into the saloon. Her first
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glance fell on Powell. For a moment, Seeing only the
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second officer with Anthony, she felt relieved and made as
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if to draw back, But her sharpened perception detected something
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suspicious in their attitudes, and she came forward slowly. I
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was the first to see Missus Anthony, related Powell, because
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I was facing aft. The captain, noticing my eyes, looked
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quickly over his shoulder, and at once put his finger
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to his lips to caution me as if I were
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likely to let out anything. Before her, Missus Anthony had
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on a dressing gown of some gray stuff with red
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facings and a thick red cord round her waist. Her
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hair was down to child, a pale faced child with
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big blue eyes and a red mouth a little open,
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showing a glimmer of white teeth. The light fell strongly
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on her as she came up to the end of
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the table. A strange child, though she hardly affected one
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like a child. I remember, you know, exclaimed mister Powell,
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who clearly must have been like many seamen and industrious reader.
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Do you know what she looked like to me? With
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those big eyes and something appealing in her whole expression,
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she looked like a forsaken alf Captain Anthony had moved
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forward to keep her away from my end of the table,
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where the tray was. I had never seen them so
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near to each other before, and it made a great contrast.
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It was wonderful, for with his beard cut to a point,
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his swarthy, sunburnt complexion, thin nose, and his lean head,
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there was something African, something Moorish in Captain Anthony. His
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neck was bare. He had taken off his coat and
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collar and had drawn on his sleeping jacket the time
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he had been absent from the saloon. I seemed to
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see him now, Missus Anthony too. She looked from him
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to me I suppose I looked guilty or frightened, and
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from me to him, trying to guess what there was
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between us two. Then she burst out with a what
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has happened? Which seemed addressed to me. I mumbled nothing, nothing, ma'am,
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which she very likely did not hear. You must not
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think that all this had lasted a long time. She
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had taken fright at our behavior and turned to the
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captain pitifully, What is it you are concealing from me?
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A straight question? Eh, I don't know what answer the
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Captain would have made. Before he could even raise his
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eyes to her, she cried out, ah, here is Papa,
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in a sharp tone of relief. But directly afterwards she
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looked to me as if she were holding her breath
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with apprehension. I was so interested in her that, now,
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shall I say it? Her exclamation made no connection in
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my mind. At first. I also noticed that she had
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sidled up a little nearer to Captain Anthony before it
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occurred to me to turn my head. I can tell
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you that my neck stiffened in the twisted position from
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the shock of actually seeing that old man he had dared.
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I suppose you think I ought to have looked upon
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him as mad, but I couldn't. It would have been
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certainly easier, but I could not. You should have seen him.
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First of all, He was completely dressed, with his very
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cap still on his head, just as when he left
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me on deck two hours before, saying in his soft voice,
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the moment has come to go to bed, while he
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meant to go down and do that thing and hide
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in his dark cabin and watch the stuff do its work.
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A cold shudder ran down my back. He had his
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hands in the pockets of his jacket, his arms were
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pressed close to his thin, upright body, and he shuffled
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across the cabin with his short steps. There was a
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red patch on each of his old soft cheeks, as
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if somebody had been pinching them. He drooped his head
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a little and looked with a sort of underhand expectation
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at the Captain and Missus Anthony standing close together at
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the other end of the saloon, the calculating horrible impudence
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of it. His daughter was there, and I am certainly
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he had seen the Captain putting his finger on his
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lips to warn me, and then he had coolly come out.
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He passed my imagination, I assure you, after that one shiver.
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His presence killed every faculty in me wonder, horror, indignation.
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I felt nothing in particular, just as if he were
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still the old gentleman who used to talk to me
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familiarly every day on deck. Would you believe it? Mister
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Powell challenged my powers of wonder at this internal phenomenon,
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went on marlow after a slight pause, but even if
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they had not been fully engaged, together with all my
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powers of attention in following the facts of the case,
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I would not have been astonished by his statements about himself,
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Taking into consideration his youth, they were by no means incredible,
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or at any rate, they were the least incredible part
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of the whole. They were also the least interesting part.
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The interest was elsewhere, and there, of course, all he
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could do was to look at the surface. The inwardness
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of what was passing before his eyes was hidden from him,
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who had looked on, more impenetrably than from me, who,
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at a distance of years, was listening to his words.
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What presently happened at this crisis in Flora. De Barrel's
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fate was beyond his power of comment, seemed in a
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sense natural, and his own presence on the scene was
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so strangely motived that it was left to me to
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marvel alone at this young man, a completely chance comer,
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having brought it about on that night. Each situation, created
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either by folly or wisdom, has its psychological moment. The
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behavior of young Powell, with its mixture of boyish impulses
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combined with instinctive prudence, had not created it. I can't
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say that, but had discovered it to the very people involved.
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What would have happened if he had made a noise
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about his discovery? But he didn't. His head was full
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of Missus Anthony, and he behaved with a discretion beyond
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his years. Some nice children often do, and surely it
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is not from reflection. They have their own inspirations. Young
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Powell's inspiration consisted in being enthusiastic about Missus Anthony. Enthusiastic
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is really good, and he was amongst them like a child, sensitive, impressionable, plastic,
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but unable to find for himself any sort of comment.
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I don't know how much mind may be worth, but
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I believe that just then the tension of the false
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situation was at its highest. Of all the forms offered
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to us by life, it is the one demanding a
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couple to realize it fully, which is the most imperative.
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Pairing off is the fate of mankind. And if two
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beings thrown together mutually attracted, resist the necessity, fail in understanding,
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and voluntarily stop short of the embrace in the noblest
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meaning of the word, then they are committing a sin
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against life, the call of which is simple, perhaps sacred,
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and the punishment of it is an invasion of complexity,
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a tormenting, forcibly tortuous involution of feelings, the deepest form
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of suffering, from which, indeed something significant may come at last,
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which may be criminal or heroic, may be madness or wisdom,
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or even a straight, if despairing decision. Powell, on taking
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his eyes off the old Gentleman, noticed Captain Anthony, swarthy
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as an African, by the side of flora whiter than
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the lilies, take his handkerchief out and wipe off his
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forehead the sweat of anguish, like a man who has overcome,
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and no wonder, commented mister Powell. Here then the captain said,
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hadn't you better go back to your room? Was to
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missus Anthony. He tried to smile at her. Why do
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you look startled? This night is like any other night,
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which Powell again commented to me earnestly, was a lie.
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No wonder he sweated. You see from this the value
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of Powell's comments. Missus Anthony then said, why are you
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sending me away? Why that you should go to sleep,
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That you should rest, And Captain Anthony frowned. Then sharply
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you stay here, mister Powell, I shall want you presently.
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As a matter of fact, Powell had not moved. Flora
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did not mind his presence. He himself had the feeling
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of being of no account to those three people. He
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was looking at Missus Anthony as unabashed as the proverbial
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cat looking at a king. Missus Anthony glanced at him,
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she did not move, Gripped by an inexplicable premonition, she
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had arrived at the very limit of her endurance as
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the object of Anthony's magnanimity. She was the prey of
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an intuitive dread of She did not know what mysterious influence.
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She felt herself being pushed back into that solitude, that
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moral loneliness which had made all her life intolerable. And then,
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in that close communion established again with Anthony, she felt,
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as on that night in the garden, the force of
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his personal fascination. The passive quietness with which she looked
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at him, gave her the appearance of a person bewitched,
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or say, mesmerically, put to sleep, beyond any notion of
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her surroundings. After telling mister Powell not to go away,
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the Captain remained silent. Suddenly, missus Anthony pushed back her
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loose hair with a decisive gesture of her arms and
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moved still nearer to him. Here is Papa up yet,
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she said, but she did not look towards mister Smith.
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Why is it and you? I can't go on like this, Roderick,
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between you too? Don't? Anthony interrupted her, as if something
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had untied his tongue. Oh, yes, here's your father, and
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why not? Perhaps it is just as well you came
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out between us two? Is that it? I won't pretend
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I don't understand. I am not blind, but I can't
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fight any longer for what I haven't got. I don't
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know what you imagine has happened. Something has though, only
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you needn't be afraid. No shadow can touch you because
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I give up. I can't say we had much talk
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about it, your father and I. But the long and
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the short of it is that I must learn to
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live without you, which I have told you was impossible.
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I was speaking the truth. But I have done fighting
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or waiting or hoping, Yes, you shall go. At this point,
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mister Powell, who he confessed to me, was listening with
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uncomprehending or heard behind his back, a triumphant chuckling sound.
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It gave him the shudders. He said to mention it now.
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But at the time, except for another chill down the spine,
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it had not the power to destroy his absorption in
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the scene before his eyes, and before his ears too,
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because just then Captain Anthony raised his voice grimly. Perhaps
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he too hadhered the chuckle of the old man. Your
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father has found an argument which makes me pause. If
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it does not convince me, No, I can't answer it.
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I I don't want to answer it. I simply surrender.
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He shall have his way with you and with me only,
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he added, in a gloomy, lowered tone, which struck mister
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Powers off. A pedal had been put down. Only it
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shall take a little time. I have never lied to you. Never.
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I renounced not only my chance but my life in
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a few days, directly we get into port the very
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moment we do, I who have said I could never
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let you go, I shall let you go. To the
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innocent beholder. Anthony seemed at this point to become physically exhausted.
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My view is that the utter falseness of his I
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may say aspirations, the vanity of grasping the empty air
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had come to him with an overwhelming force, leaving him
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disarmed before the other's mad and sinister sincerity. As he
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had said himself, he could not fight for what he
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did not possess. He could not face such a thing
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as this for the sake of his mere magnanimity. The
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normal alone can overcome the abnormal. He could not even
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reproach that man over there. I own myself beaten, he said,
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in a firmer tone, you are free. I let you off,
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since I must Powell. The onlooker affirms that at these
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incomprehensible words, Missus Anthony stiffened into the very image of astonishment,
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with a frightened stare and frozen lips. But next minute
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a cry came out from her heart, not very loud,
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but of a quality which made not only Captain Anthony
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he was not looking at her, not only him, but
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also the more distant and equally unprepared young man catch
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their breath. But I don't want to be let off,
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she cried. She was so still that one asked oneself
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whether the cry had come from her. The restless shuffle
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behind Powell's back stopped short. The intermittent shadowy chuckling ceased too.
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Young Powell, glancing round, saw mister Smith raise his head
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with his faded eyes very still, pucket at the corners
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like a man perceiving something coming at him from a
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great distance, and Missus Anthony's voice reached Powell's ears, entreating
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and indignant. You can't cast me off like this, Roderick.
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I won't go away from him. I won't Palell turned
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about and discovered then that what mister Smith was puckering
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his eyes at was the sight of his daughter clinging
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round Captain Anthony's neck, a sight not in itself improper,
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but which had the power to move young Powell with
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a bash profound emotion. It was different from his emotion
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whilst spying at the revelations of the skylight. But in
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this case too, he felt the discomfort, if not the
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guilt of an unseen beholder experience, was being piled up
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on his young shoulders. Missus Anthony's hair hung back in
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a dark mass, like the hair of a drowned woman.
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She looked as if she would let go and sink
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to the floor if the captain were to withhold his
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sustaining arm. But the captain obviously had no such intention.
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Standing firm and still, he gazed with somber eyes at
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mister Smith. For a time, the low, convulsive sobbing of
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mister Smith's daughter was the only sound to trouble the silence.
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The strength of Anthony's clasp pressing Flora to his breast
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could not be doubted even at that distance, and suddenly,
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awakening to his opportunity, he began to partly support her,
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partly carry her in the direction of her cabin. His
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head was bent over her solicitously, then recollecting himself with
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a glance full of unwonted fire, his voice ringing in
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a note unknown to mister Powell, he cried to him,
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don't you go on deck yet. I want you to
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stay here till I come back. There are some instructions
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I want to give you. And before the young man
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could answer, Anthony had disappeared in the stern cabin, burdened
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and exulting instructions, commented mister Powell. That was all right,
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very likely, But they would be such instructions, as I
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thought to myself, no ship's officer perhaps, had ever been
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given before. It made me feel a little sick to
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think what they would be dealing with probably, But there
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everything that happens on board ship on the high seas
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has got to be dealt with somehow. There are no
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special people to fly to for assistance. And there I
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was with that old man left in my charge. When
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he noticed me looking at him, he started to shuffle
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again athwart the saloon. He kept his hand rammed in
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his pockets. He was there's a stiff backed as ever,
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only his head hung down. After a bit, he says,
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in his gentle, soft tone, did you see it? There
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were in Powell's head no special words to fit the
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horror of his feelings, so he said, yet to say something? Good, God,
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what are you thinking of? Mister Smith? To try to?
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And then he left off. He dared not utter the
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awful word poison. Mister Smith stopped his prow think what
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do you know of thinking? I don't think there is
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something in my head that thinks the thoughts of men.
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It's like being drunk with liquor, or you can't stop them.
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A man who thinks will think anything. No, but have
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you seen it? Have you? I tell you I have?
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I am certain, said Powell, forcibly. I was looking at
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you all the time. You have done something to the
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drink in that glass. Then Powell lost his breath some
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Now mister Smith looked at him curiously with mistrust. My
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good young man, I don't know what you are talking about.
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I ask you. Have you seen who would have believed it?
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With her arms round his neck? When oh ha ha,
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did you see, didn't you? It wasn't a delusion? Was it?
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Her arms round? But I have never wholly trusted her.
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Then I flew out at him, said mister Powell. I
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told him he was jolly lucky to have fallen upon
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Captain Anthony, a man in a million. He started again,
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shuffling to and fro You too, he said, mournfully, keeping
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his eyes down, Eh, wonderful man, But have you a
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notion who I am? Listen? I have been the great
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mister de Baryl. So they printed it in the papers
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while they were getting up a conspiracy, and I have
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been doing time. And now I am brought low. His
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voice died down to a mere breath. Brought low. He
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took his hands out of his pocket, dragged the cap
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down on his head, and stuck them back into his pockets,
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exactly as if preparing himself to go out into a
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great wind, but not so low as to put up
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with this disgrace. To see her fast in this fellow's
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clutches without doing something, She wouldn't listen to me. Frightened, silly,
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I had to think of some way to get her
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out of this. Did you think she cared for him? No?
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Would anybody have thought so? No? She pretended it was
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for my sake. She couldn't understand that. If I hadn't
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been an old man, I would have flown at his
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throat months ago. As it was, I was tempted every
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time he looked at her, my girl, Oh, any man,
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But this, and all the time the wicked little fool
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was lying to me. It was their plot, their conspiracy.
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These conspiracies are the devil. She has been leading me
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on till she has fairly put my head under the
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heel of that jailer, of that scoundrel of her husband, treachery,
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bringing me low lower than herself in the dirt. That's
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what it means, doesn't it? Under his heel? He paused
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in his restless shuffle, and again, seizing his cap with
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both hands, dragged it furiously right down on his ears.
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Pawle had lost himself in listening to these broken ravings,
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in looking at that old feverish face. When suddenly, quick
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as lightning, mister Smith spun round, snatched up the Captain's glass,
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and with a stifled, hurried exclamation, here's luck, tossed the
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liquor down his throat. I know now the meaning of
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the word consternation went on, mister Powell. That was exactly
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my state of mind. I thought to myself directly, there's
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nothing in that drink I have been dreaming. I have
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made the awfullest mistake. Mister Smith put the glass down.
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He stood before Powell, unharmed, quieted down in a listening attitude,
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his head inclined on one side, chewing his thin lips.
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Suddenly he blinked queerly, grabbed Powell's shouldered and collapsed, subsiding
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all at once, as though he had gone soft all
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over as a piece of silk stuff collapses. Pale seized
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his arm instinctively and checked his fall, But as soon
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as mister Smith was fairly on the floor, he jerked
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himself free and backed away. Almost as quick he rushed
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forward again and tried to lift up the body, but
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directly he raised his shoulders. He knew that the man
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was dead dead, he lowered him down gently. He stood
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over him, without fear or any other feeling almost indifferent,
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far away as it were. And then he made another start.
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And if he had not kept Missus Anthony always in
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his mind, he would have let out a yell for help.
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He staggered to her cabin door, and as it was,
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his call for Captain Anthony burst out of him, much
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too loud. But he made a great effort of self control.
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I am waiting for my orders, sir. He sat outside
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that door distinctly, in a steady tone. It was very
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still in there, still as death. Then he heard a
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shuffle of feet and the Captain's voice, all right coming.
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He leant his back against the bulkhead, as you see
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a drunken man sometimes propped up against a wall, half
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doubled up. In that attitude. The Captain found him when
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he came out, pulling the door to after him quickly.
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At once Anthony let his eyes run all over the
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cabin pal without a word, clutched his forearm, led him
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round the end of the table, and began to justify himself.
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I couldn't stop him, he whispered, shakily. He was too
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quick for me. He trank it up and fell down.
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But the Captain and was not listening. He was looking
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down at mister Smith, thinking perhaps that it was a
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mere chance his own body was not lying there. They
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did not want to speak. They made signs to each
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other with their eyes. The Captain grasped Powell's shoulder as
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if in a vice, and glanced at Missus Anthony's cabin door,
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and it was enough. He knew that the young man
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understood him. Rather silence, silence forever about this, their very
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glances became stealthy. Powell looked from the body to the
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door of the dead man's stateroom. The Captain nodded and
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let him go, and then Powell crept over, hooked the
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door open, and crept back, with fearful glances towards Missus
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Anthony's cabin. They stooped over the corpse. Captain Anthony lifted
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up the shoulders. Mister Powell shuddered, I'll never forget that
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interminable journey across the saloon, step by step, holding our
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breath for part of the way. The drawn half of
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the curtain concealed us from view. Had Missus Anthony opened
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her door, But I didn't draw a free breath till
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after we'd laid the body down on the swinging cot.
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The reflection of the saloon light left most of the
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cabin in the shadow. Mister Smith's rigid, extended body looked shadowy, too,
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shadowy and alive. You know. He always carried himself as
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stiff as a poker. We stood by the cot as
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though waiting for him to make a sign that he
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wanted to be left alone. The captain threw his arm
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over my shoulder and said, in my very ear, the
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steward'll find him in the morning. I made no answer.
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It was for him to say it was perhaps the
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best way. There's no use talking about my thoughts. They
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were not concerned with myself, nor yet with that old
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man who terrified me more now than when he was alive.
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Him whom I pitied was the captain. He whispered, I
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am certain of you, mister Powell. You had better go
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on deck now as to me, And I saw him
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raise his hands to his head, as if distracted with
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his last words before we stole out of that cab,
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and stick to my mind, with a very tone of
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his mutter to himself, not to me, No, no, I
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am not going to stumble now over that corpse. End
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of Part two, Chapter six, Section three,
