'I have told you these two episodes at length to show his manner of dealing¹ with himself under the new conditions of his life. There were many others of the sort, more than I could count on the fingers of my two hands. They were all equally tinged² by a high-minded absurdity³ of intention which made their futility⁴ profound and touching⁵. To fling away your daily bread so as to get your hands free for a grapple with a ghost may be an act of prosaic⁶ heroism⁷. Men had done it before (though we who have lived know full well that it is not the haunted soul but the hungry body that makes an outcast), and men who had eaten and meant to eat every day had applauded the creditable folly⁸. He was indeed unfortunate, for all his recklessness could not carry him out from under the shadow. There was always a doubt of his courage. The truth seems to be that it is impossible to lay the ghost of a fact. You can face it or shirk it -- and I have come across a man or two who could wink⁹ at their familiar shades. Obviously Jim was not of the winking¹⁰ sort; but what I could never make up my mind about was whether his line of conduct amounted to shirking his ghost or to facing him out.

'I strained my mental eyesight only to discover that, as with the complexion¹¹ of all our actions, the shade of difference was so delicate that it was impossible to say. It might have been flight and it might have been a mode of combat. To the common mind he became known as a rolling stone, because this was the funniest part: he did after a time become

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