There was a red patch on each of his old soft cheeks as if
somebody had been pinching them. He drooped his head a little, and
looked with a sort of underhand expectation at the captain and Mrs.
Anthony standing close together at the other end of the saloon. The
calculating horrible impudence of it! His daughter was there; and I am
certain he had seen the captain putting his finger on his lips to warn
me. And then he had coolly come out! He passed my imagination, I assure
you. After that one shiver his presence killed every faculty in
me--wonder, horror, indignation. I felt nothing in particular just as if
he were still the old gentleman who used to talk to me familiarly every
day on deck. Would you believe it?"
"Mr. Powell challenged my powers of wonder at this internal phenomenon,"
went on Marlow after a slight pause. "But even if they had not been
fully engaged, together with all my powers of attention in following the
facts of the case, I would not have been astonished by his statements
about himself. Taking into consideration his youth they were by no means
incredible; or, at any rate, they were the least incredible part of the
whole.
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