It's on account of
a lady coming with us. I am going to get married, Mr. Franklin!"
CHAPTER TWO--YOUNG POWELL SEES AND HEARS
"You remember," went on Marlow, "how I feared that Mr. Powell's want of
experience would stand in his way of appreciating the unusual. The
unusual I had in my mind was something of a very subtle sort: the unusual
in marital relations. I may well have doubted the capacity of a young
man too much concerned with the creditable performance of his
professional duties to observe what in the nature of things is not easily
observable in itself, and still less so under the special circumstances.
In the majority of ships a second officer has not many points of contact
with the captain's wife. He sits at the same table with her at meals,
generally speaking; he may now and then be addressed more or less kindly
on insignificant matters, and have the opportunity to show her some small
attentions on deck. And that is all. Under such conditions, signs can
be seen only by a sharp and practised eye. I am alluding now to troubles
which are subtle often to the extent of not being understood by the very
hearts they devastate or uplift.
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