decision  ;  she  was  sure  of  that ;  only,  there  could
be  no  harm  in  reflecting  that  a  duty  done
would  have  its  reward.
As  for  Jan,  he  let  people  say  whatever  they
chose  to  say  about  him.  To  Tulloch  and  to
Michael  Snorro  he  described  the  tempest,  and
the  desperation  with  which  he  had  fought  for
his  boat  and  his  life ;  but  defended  himself  to
no  one  else.  Day  after  day  he  passed  in  the
retreat  which  Snorro  had  made  him,  and  lying
there  he  could  plainly  hear  the  men  in
Peter's  store  talk  about  him.  Often  he  met
the  same  men  in  Torr's  at  night,  and  he  laughed
bitterly  to  himself  at  their  double  tongues.
There  are  few  natures  that  would  have  been
improved  by  such  a  discipline  ;  to  a  man  who
had  lost  all  faith  in  himself,  it  was  a  moral
suicide.
Down,  down,  down,  with  the  rapidity  with
which  fine  men  go  to  ruin,  went  Jan.  Every  little
thing  seemed  to  help  him  to  the  bottom ;  yes,
even  such  a  trifle  as  his  shabby  clothes.  But
shabby  clothes  were  not  a  trifle  to  Jan.  There  are
men  as  well  as  women  who  put  on  respectability
with  respectable  raiment ;  Jan  was  of  that  class.
He  was  meanly  dressed  and  he  felt  mean,  and  he


THE  MAN  A  T  DEA  Tff'S  DOOR.  119

had  no  money  to  buy  a  new  suit.  All  Snorro's
small  savings  he  had  used  long  before  for  one
purpose  or  another,  and  his  wages  were  barely
sufficient  to  buy  food,  and  to  pay  Jan's  bill  at
Torr's ;  for,  alas !  Jan  would  go  to  Torr's.
