How weak, irrational, and absurd we are! How easily carried away
whenever our awakened imagination brings us the irritating hint of
a desire! I cared for the girl in a particular way, seduced by the
moody expression of her face, by her obstinate silences, her rare,
scornful words; by the perpetual pout of her closed lips, the black
depths of her fixed gaze turned slowly upon me as if in
contemptuous provocation, only to be averted next moment with an
exasperating indifference.

Of course the news of my assiduity had spread all over the little
town. I noticed a change in the manner of my acquaintances and
even something different in the nods of the other captains, when
meeting them at the landing-steps or in the offices where business
called me. The old-maidish head clerk treated me with distant
punctiliousness and, as it were, gathered his skirts round him for
fear of contamination. It seemed to me that the very niggers on
the quays turned to look after me as I passed; and as to Jacobus's
boatman his "Good-night, sah!" when he put me on board was no
longer merely cordial--it had a familiar, confidential sound as
though we had been partners in some villainy.

My friend S- the elder passed me on the other side of the street
with a wave of the hand and an ironic smile. The younger brother,
the one they had married to an elderly shrew, he, on the strength
of an older friendship and as if paying a debt of gratitude, took
the liberty to utter a word of warning.

"You're doing yourself no good by your choice of friends, my dear
chap," he said with infantile gravity.