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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: I heard the crew washing decks above me. I knew I would have
been told at once if there had been any wind. Calm, I thought,
and I was doubly vexed. Indeed, I felt dual more than ever.
The steward reappeared suddenly in the doorway.
I jumped up from the couch so quickly that he gave a start.
"What do you want here?"
"Close your port, sir--they are washing decks."
"It is closed," I said, reddening.
"Very well, sir." But he did not move from the doorway and returned
my stare in an extraordinary, equivocal manner for a time.
Then his eyes wavered, all his expression changed, and in a voice
 The Secret Sharer |