“But he knew very well that his tight, self-contained world was hopelessly out of tune and he was haunted by the depressing sentiment of failure – of not having succeeded in what he had set out to do. He would very much have liked to ask Stephen Maturin the reasons for this failure; he would very much have liked to talk to him on indifferent subjects and to have played a little music; but he knew that an invitation to the captain’s cabin was very like an order, if only because the refusing of it was so extraordinary – that had been borne in upon him very strongly the other morning, when he had been so amazed by Dillion’s refusal. Where there was no equality there was no companionship: when a man was obliged to say ‘Yes, sir,’ his agreement was of no worth even if it happened to be true. He had know these things all his service life; they were perfectly evident; but he had never though they would apply so fully, and to him.”
O’Brien, Patrick. “Chapter Eight.” Master and Commander.