"No ... I'm just--oh, nothing. I'm in a little trouble, that's all. My own fault, maybe, I don't know." "Probably it is. Most of our troubles are our own fault, in one way or another. Well, if there's anything I can do to help out, just give me a hail." "Thanks. But I'm afraid there isn't." He turned and walked down the platform once more. Mrs. Captain Orrin Eldridge, who was to sell tickets, came, and, after greeting the captain cordially, went in to open and light the ticket-office at the foot of the stairs. Two more members of the cast, Erastus Snow and Mrs. Bassett, arrived and went up to prepare. Suddenly Kent, who had been standing at the farther end of the platform, came back. "Captain Kendrick," he said, "would you mind answering a question?" "Eh? Why, not a bit, George. But perhaps yours may be one of those questions I can't answer." "I think you can. Say--er--Cap'n Kendrick----" "Yes, George." "You see, I.... This sounds awfully foolish, but--but I don't know what I ought to do." "Um-hm. Well, a good many of us get that way every once in a while." "Do you?" "You bet!" "Humph! Somehow you seem to me like a man who would know exactly what to do at any time." "Yes? Well, my looks must belie me. Heave ahead, George. The folks are beginning to come." "Well, I---- Oh, hang it, Cap'n, when you've made a mistake--done something that you didn't think was wrong--that wasn't wrong, really--and--and.... Say, I'm making an awful mess of this. And it's such a fool thing, anyhow." "Um-hm. So many things are. Chuck it overboard, George; that is, if you really want to ask me about it." "I do. That is, I want to ask you this: Suppose you had done something that you thought was all right and--and somebody else had thought was wrong--would you--would you go and tell that other person that you _were_ wrong? Even if you weren't, you know." Kendrick was silent. The question was ridiculous enough, but he did not laugh, nor feel like laughing. Nor did he want to answer. "Oh, I know that it's a child's question," put in Kent, disgustedly. "Never mind answering. I am a child sometimes, feel like one, anyhow. And I've got to fight this out with myself, I suppose, so what's the use?" He turned on his heel, but the captain laid a hand on his shoulder. "George," he said, slowly, "of course, the way you put this thing makes it pretty foggy navigatin' for a stranger; but--humph!--well, in cases somethin' like yours, when I've cared anything about the--er--friendship of the other fellow, I've generally found 'twas good business to go and say I was sorry first, and then, if 'twas worth while, argue the point of who was right or wrong later. You never can do much fishin' through the ice unless somebody chops the hole."