Chapter 18 Summary

Six months later, Marlow receives a letter from the friend – an eccentric middle-aged bachelor who owns a rice-mill – to whom he had recommended Jim. In it he reveals his pleasure at having Jim for company and though he expresses reservations about Jim's past (which he does not know about) confesses that he is not yet ready to ask Jim about it.

After a trip to the north, Marlow returns to find a second letter from the friend, who is now disconsolate. He explains that Jim has left, leaving only a formal note of apology behind. Among the letters was one from Jim, who had found work with Egstrom and Blake, ship-chandlers, as a runner, having given them Marlow's name as reference. The job, he said, would become permanent were Marlow to write a word in his favor; which Marlow dutifully did.

Before the...