found me wondering what to do.

"At times I used to go over to my uncle's at Surbiton. It was my duty to
pay respects, so to speak. His family had a grudge against my mother,
because if my father hadn't married her, they would have inherited his
money, so that there was not much love lost between them. But
occasionally my old uncle would ring me up and ask me to go down with
him. He did this Saturday I speak of, and as there was no one else in my
office at the time I told him my trouble. And he laughed! Humph!

"The inhuman old shell-back laughed! And yet, if you'll believe me, when
I heard the old chap rumbling at the other end of the wire, it cheered
me up. I began to think, 'Why, he may have influence. He may get me a
job.' You see the vicious state of mind of the professional class! When
I mentioned the possibility to him, he said, 'I can get you a job all
right. How'd you like to go to sea?'

"I nearly dropped the receiver when he said that. Go to sea! People in
residential suburbs didn't go to sea!

"'Eh?' I said. 'What d'you mean?'

"'What I said,' he bellows. 'Go to sea,'

"'I'll come round and talk to you,' I said.

"I went round and found him in the office. He was a fierce old chap,
burnt black with sun, and with hair grey as the sea. He was enjoying his
life apparently, bossing things in that office. But he told me at once
that he could do no more than give me a chance to start at the bottom. I
must work up and pass the Board of Trade tests for each grade. I give
him credit for painting the picture as dark as he could. He even
suggested I should try and get another draughtsman's job if I was afraid
of going through the mill. But I didn't know enough to be afraid, and
asked him off-hand when he would need me.

"'We don't need you,' he said, as if surprised. 'We can get a couple of
thousand young fellows to-morrow if we want them. It's up to you.'

"That was the first slap in the face. I sat there in that great gloomy
vault of an office in Fenchurch Street, looking at the half-models of
ships and a map of the docks at Monte Video on the walls, and wondering
what I should do. I was not hesitating, you understand, because of
pride. No, that was gone. My brother, when he saw Gladys home, had done
for that. It was more like a fear gripping at me. I was scared at
letting go of my professional easy-going life. I'd never been on a ship
since I'd been born on one. I knew nothing about marine engineering. I
he