A couple of hours later I went down the street with feet that felt so light that they seemed to barely touch the ground.

I had had a long talk with Miss Waters and the poor woman with whom she had been staying, and the former had promised me something.

I was glad to get out of the squalid little tenement parlour, for a man who is used to the fresh air of the sea is always uncomfortable in a close little room. It’s different from a fo’castle. I remember that I stopped once and started to dance a hornpipe on a dark corner nearly opposite the shipping-office. Then, fearing that some one would see me and think me drunk, which I was not, I ceased and looked quickly up and down the street.

The light in the office was still burning{295} as brightly as when I passed there a few hours earlier.

I went along the pavement on the opposite side of the street until I stood directly in front of the building. Suddenly the door opened and a moment afterward the light went out. Then a figure came slowly down the front steps and looked hard at me.

It was Brown, but his face was so distorted with some mental disturbance that I barely recognized him.

He appeared to be suffering keenly, for his cheeks were pale and drawn, and the lines about his mouth showed plainly in the light of the street-lamp.

I had never seen him look so upset, even during the time he was serving with Benson, and I hesitated about joining him.

He, however, did not give me a chance, for he did not even speak to me, but walked rapidly away and disappeared down the now deserted street.

I was too busy with my own thoughts to pay any more attention to the matter for the present, and I went on board the Arrow{296} and turned in, thinking that he would be there when I awoke in the morning.

When I turned out he was not there, and a short time afterward I heard the news that Mr. Anderson was dead.

He had been found sitting at his desk in the office. The gas was turned on in the room and the doors and windows closed. When the janitor opened the place for business in the morning, he had been almost suffocated. As soon as he recovered sufficiently he called for help, and he and several others entered the room and dragged the unfortunate young man into the hall. They found that he had been dead for several hours.

That was all. I’ve never heard anything more definite about the matter. But I was satisfied that my friend Brown was cleared.

Alice Waters and myself were married the next day.

As luck was with us, that very day the old clipper Morning Light came in, and, after a good deal of fuss and bother, I made a deal to get transferred to her.

Williams, her skipper, was a friend of{297} mine, and he backed me in the effort to exchange to the point of resigning altogether. He owned enough shares in the vessel to finally settle the matter, and this gave me a couple of weeks longer on the beach and Williams a chance to go to China, which was what he wanted.

Brown suddenly changed his mind about sailing with us, and had his things put ashore. He never came near the Morning Light until just as the tug took our towline. T............