Nothing affected the fate of that house.

The lives of those that were sleeping on the other floors above and below him had not been entrusted to his vigilance....

But in a few days he began to feel that there was something lacking, something which had been one of the greatest satisfactions of his existence,--the sensation of power, the enjoyment of command.
Two maids were now always hastening to him with a frightened air at the sound of his voice, or the ringing of his bell.

That was all that was left to him who had commanded dozens of men of such ugliness of temper that they struck terror to all beholders when they went ashore in the ports.

Nobody consulted him now, while on the sea everybody was seeking his counsel and many times had to interrupt his sleep.