Yet even if this theory were correct, was the second mate wholly answerable for beginning his life again with the imposture he had practised?  The contributor had either so fallen in love with the literary advantages of his forlorn deceiver that he would see no moral obliquity in him, or he had touched a subtler verity at last in pondering the affair.  It seemed now no longer a farce, but had a pathos which, though very different from that of its first aspect, was hardly less tragical.  Knowing with what coldness, or at the best, uncandor, he (representing Society in its attitude toward convicted Error) would have met the fact had it been owned to him at first, he had not virtue enough to condemn the illusory stranger, who must have been helpless to make at once evident any repentance he felt or good purpose he cherished.  Was it not one of the saddest consequences of the man’s past,—­a dark necessity of misdoing,—­that, even with the best will in the world to retrieve himself, his first endeavor must involve a wrong?  Might he not, indeed, be considered a martyr, in some sort, to his own admirable impulses?  I can see clearly enough where the contributor was astray in this reasoning, but I can also understand how one accustomed to value realities only as they resembled fables should be won with such pensive sophistry; and I can certainly sympathize with his feeling that the mariner’s failure to reappear according to appointment added its final and most agreeable charm to the whole affair, and completed the mystery from which the man emerged and which swallowed him up again.

NOTES

=Mr. Charles Reade=:—­An English novelist (1814-1884).

=protege= (French):—­A person under the care of another.  The form given here is masculine; the feminine is protegee.

=coup de theatre=:—­(French) A very striking scene, such as might appear on the stage.

=Two Years before the Mast=:—­A sea story written by R.H.  Dana, about 1840.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

What is a romance?  The phrase already mentioned refers to earlier parts of the book Suburban Sketches, from which this story is taken.  What effect does the author gain by the ring at the door-bell?  How does he give you a quick and vivid idea of the visitor?  What significance do the man’s clothes have in the story?  By means of what devices does the author interest you in the stranger?  Do adventures really happen in everyday life?  Why does the author speak of one’s own “register”?  Mr. Howells has written a number of novels in which he pictures ordinary people, and shows the romance of commonplace events.  Why does the listener “exult”?  How does the man’s story affect you?  What is gained by having it told in his own words?  Is Jonathan Tinker’s toast a happy one?  What does the contributor mean by saying that he would have been a good subject