"What the deuce are
they worrying about?" he asked himself in a dazed and contemptuous
impatience. But all the same "jailer" was a funny name to give a man;
unkind, unfriendly, nasty. He was sorry that Mr. Smith was guilty in
that matter because, the truth must be told, he had been to a certain
extent sensible of having been noticed in a quiet manner by the father of
Mrs. Anthony. Youth appreciates that sort of recognition which is the
subtlest form of flattery age can offer. Mr. Smith seized opportunities
to approach him on deck. His remarks were sometimes weird and
enigmatical.
He was doubtless an eccentric old gent. But from that to calling his son-
in-law (whom he never approached on deck) nasty names behind his back was
a long step.
And Mr. Powell marvelled . . . "
"While he was telling me all this,"--Marlow changed his tone--"I
marvelled even more. It was as if misfortune marked its victims on the
forehead for the dislike of the crowd. I am not thinking here of
numbers. Two men may behave like a crowd, three certainly will when
their emotions are engaged.
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