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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: had sailed on her next voyage without him, and, instead of joining
her again, I went by request to see my old commander in his home.
This is the only one of my captains I have ever visited in that
way. He was out of bed by then, "quite convalescent," as he
declared, making a few tottering steps to meet me at the sitting-
room door. Evidently he was reluctant to take his final cross-
bearings of this earth for a Departure on the only voyage to an
unknown destination a sailor ever undertakes. And it was all very
nice - the large, sunny room; his deep, easy-chair in a bow window,
with pillows and a footstool; the quiet, watchful care of the
elderly, gentle woman who had borne him five children, and had not,
 The Mirror of the Sea |