The Water lily Pond

The Water lily Pond
Venus and Cupid
Vermeer girl with the pearl earring
virgin of the rocks
'And you?' I was asked. ¡¡¡¡'I'll give you a thousand-' I began, but was interrupted. ¡¡¡¡'Stow that! Are you going to take up your duties as cabin-boy? Or do I have to take you in hand?' ¡¡¡¡What was I to do? To be brutally beaten, to be killed perhaps, would not help my case. I looked steadily into the cruel gray eyes. They might have been granite for all the light and warmth of a human soul they contained. One may see the soul stir in some men's eyes, but his were bleak and cold and gray as the sea itself. ¡¡¡¡'Well?' ¡¡¡¡'Yes,' I said. ¡¡¡¡'Say "Yes, sir."' ¡¡¡¡'Yes, sir,' I corrected. ¡¡¡¡'What is your name?' ¡¡¡¡'Van Weyden, sir.' ¡¡¡¡'First name?' 'Humphrey, sir- Humphrey Van Weyden.' ¡¡¡¡'Age?' ¡¡¡¡'Thirty-five, sir.' ¡¡¡¡'That'll do. Go to the cook and learn your duties.' ¡¡¡¡And thus it was that I passed into a state of involuntary servitude to Wolf Larsen. He was stronger than I, that was all. But it was very unreal at the time. It is no less unreal now that I look back upon it. It will always be to me as a monstrous, inconceivable thing, a horrible nightmare.