"I mean, what did he tell you to do?"
"He told me it was my hour for repentance. That was when we were in the observation platform together. The next moment we were thrown over the bridge."
"And then?"
"He died praying God to help me to repent and live straight!"
"Repent of what?"
"Of taking part in a fraud. Of pretending a dead man was still alive—going to Canada and sending letters in his name so that his friends would think he was still alive. I don't know how I could have brought myself to do such a thing! I was tempted, I suppose, and I fell. But temptation is nothing—it's falling to temptation that matters! That's what he said in his sermon."
"Anything else to repent of?"
"Nothing very much, sir. Of course I've not been all I should have been, but I'd never done anything radically wrong until then."
The shipowner rose and laid a hand on the young man's shoulder. "I appreciate your feelings," he said. "They do you credit, Dean. You're sound and straight, and that's what I want in my young men."
Dean looked up in surprise. "I don't think you quite understand, sir. I've come here to-day—come at my own expense—to hand you in my resignation."