umbrella, sitting at a desk dictating silly little letters to silly
little people. Those who wanted it let them do it. I went to my uncle
and asked for a job. His eyes twinkled when he said, 'Well, the
_Corydon's_ chartered for the Mediterranean, and they want a Second.'

"'When shall I join?' I said.

"'Oh, I was only joking,' says he. 'We'll get you a better ship than
that now.'

"'No,' I said, 'I'll go back to the _Corydon_. I know her and she knows
me. When shall I join?'"

Again Mr. Carville paused, and appeared to be lost in thought, oblivious
of our presence. An expression of gentle earnestness had settled upon
his face, almost melancholy. I imagined for a moment that he was
endeavouring to arrange his thoughts.

"I do hope," he remarked, without looking at us, "I do hope that
anything I've said hasn't given offence." He turned to us with a slight
smile. "I mix up so little with genteel people nowadays--you see?"

I nodded vaguely, and he relapsed into thought again.

"I was thinking," he observed presently, "as you are so quiet, I might
have said something. I remember that was the way they signified dissent,
so to speak. And--I wouldn't like to offend--anybody."

"Pray go on," I said. "We are not genteel in that sense of the word."

It was plain that, apart from any scruples concerning our gentility, he
had some difficulty in picking up the thread of his story. It was a
relief when he began to speak.

"I come now," he said, "to a time that I hardly know how to describe.
The next few years, taken together, were my _Wanderjaehre_. You know
Wilhelm Meister, of course? My apprenticeship was over, but I wasn't a
man yet for all that. There's an intermediate stage, what we engineers
call being 'an improver,' in a man's life. It seems strange that I
should speak of myself so at twenty-seven, but there it is; I was late
maturing. Again, I like to think that the Dutch are right when they use
the same word for husband and man. Until he is married a Dutchman is not
a 'Man.' That's how I looked at it!

"When I rejoined the _Corydon_, the Chief said the Second was going to
stay on one more trip, but old Croasan was clearing out and I could go
Third. I wouldn't mention these details, only they are important,
because--well, you'll see.

"Old Croasan was going ashore when I joined. Didn't even shake hands
with the Chief! I thought he was going home to the bonny Scotland he
always shouted about when he was canned,