Leggatt himself becomes even more unreal in the second half of the story. During the scene where the steward almost discovers Leggatt in the Captain's bathroom, the Captain wonders if Leggatt is "not visible to other eyes" than his own. He forms an "irresistible doubt" of Leggatt's bodily existence and even compares keeping the secret to being haunted. Even Leggatt is aware of his ghost-like status when he tells the Captain, "It would never do for me to come to life again." Unlike the keeper of a haunted house, however, the Captain is haunted by his other self, manifested in the presence of a man who, the Captain comes to realize, embodies the part of him that needs to be revealed if he is to mature as a commander and not become a doddering coward, such as the Skipper of the "Sephora".