"Still, it helped you to find yourself."
"Yes—if I was worth finding."
"Of course you were."
"Anyhow, I took the advice you gave me," said the Sailor, with his odd simplicity.
"You'd have given it yourself in the end without any help of mine. But it's strange that when I read your book I never guessed that you were the author, and that you were writing about our old coffin ship and the Old Man and the mate ... what was his name?"
"Mr. Thompson."
"Since deceased, I hear."
"Yes."
"One always felt he was a proper cutthroat."
"I'd not be sitting here now, but for Mr. Thompson. I'll tell you."