登陆注册
15422900000162

第162章

And do you know where they go for strength, for the necessary force? To the secret societies amongst immigrants and natives, where Nostromo --I should say Captain Fidanza -- is the great man. What gives him that position?

Who can say? Genius? He has genius. He is greater with the populace than ever he was before. It was as if he had some secret power; some mysterious means to keep up his influence. He holds conferences with the Archbishop, as in those old days which you and I remember. Barrios is useless. But for a military head they have the pious Hernandez. And they may raise the country with the new cry of wealth for the people.'

`Will there be never any peace? Will there be no rest?' Mrs Gould whispered.

`I thought that we--'

`No!' interrupted the doctor. `There is no peace and no rest in the development of material interests. They have their law, and their justice.

But it is founded on expediency, and is inhuman; it is without rectitude, without the continuity and the force that can be found only in a moral principle. Mrs Gould, the time approaches when all that the Gould Concession stands for shall weigh as heavily upon the people as the barbarism, cruelty, and misrule of a few years back.'

`How can you say that, Dr Monygham?' she cried out, as if hurt in the most sensitive place of her soul.

`I can say what is true,' the doctor insisted, obstinately. `It'll weigh as heavily, and provoke resentment, bloodshed, and vengeance, because the men have grown different. Do you think that now the mine would march upon the town to save their Senor Administrador? Do you think that?'

She pressed the backs of her entwined hands on her eyes and murmured hopelessly:

`Is it this we have worked for, then?'

The doctor lowered his head. He could follow her silent thought. Was it for this that her life had been robbed of all the intimate felicities of daily affection which her tenderness needed as the human body needs air to breathe? And the doctor, indignant with Charles Gould's blindness, hastened to change the conversation.

`It is about Nostromo that I wanted to talk to you. Ah! that fellow has some continuity and force. Nothing will put an end to him. But never mind that. There's something inexplicable going on -- or perhaps only too easy to explain. You know, Linda is practically the lighthouse keeper of the Great Isabel light. The Garibaldino is too old now. His part is to clean the lamps and to cook in the house; but he can't get up the stairs any longer. The black-eyed Linda sleeps all day and watches the light all night. Not all day, though. She is up towards five in the afternoon, when our Nostromo, whenever he is in harbour with his schooner, comes out on his courting visit, pulling in a small boat.'

`Aren't they married yet?' Mrs Gould asked. `The mother wished it, as far as I can understand, while Linda was yet quite a child. When I had the girls with me for a year or so during the War of Separation, that extraordinary Linda used to declare quite simply that she was going to be Gian' Battista's wife.'

`They are not married yet,' said the doctor, curtly. `I have looked after them a little.'

`Thank you, dear Dr Monygham,' said Mrs Gould; and under the shade of the big trees her little, even teeth gleamed in a youthful smile of gentle malice. `People don't know how really good you are. You will not let them know, as if on purpose to annoy me, who have put my faith in your good heart long ago.'

The doctor, with a lifting up of his upper lip, as though he were longing to bite, bowed stiffly in his chair. With the utter absorption of a man to whom love comes late, not as the most splendid of illusions, but like an enlightening and priceless misfortune, the sight of that woman (of whom he had been deprived for nearly a year) suggested ideas of adoration, of kissing the hem of her robe. And this excess of feeling translated itself naturally into an augmented grimness of speech.

`I am afraid of being overwhelmed by too much gratitude. However, these people interest me. I went out several times to the Great Isabel light to look after old Giorgio.'

He did not tell Mrs Gould that it was because he found there, in her absence, the relief of an atmosphere of congenial sentiment in old Giorgio's austere admiration for the `English signora -- the benefactress'; in black-eyed Linda's voluble, torrential, passionate affection for `our Dona Emilia -- that angel'; in the white-throated, fair Giselle's adoring upward turn of the eyes, which then glided towards him with a sidelong, half-arch, half-candid glance, which made the doctor exclaim to himself mentally, `If I weren't what I am, old and ugly, I would think the minx is making eyes at me. And perhaps she is. I dare say she would make eyes at anybody.'

Dr Monygham said nothing of this to Mrs Gould, the providence of the Viola family, but reverted to what he called `our great Nostromo'.

`What I wanted tell you is this: Our great Nostromo did not take much notice of the old man and the children for some years. It's true, too, that he was away on his coasting voyages certainly ten months out of the twelve. He was making his fortune, as he told Captain Mitchell once. He seems to have done uncommonly well. It was only to be expected. He is a man full of resource, full of confidence in himself, ready to take chances and risks of every sort. I remember being in Mitchell's office one day, when he came in with that calm, grave air he always carries everywhere.

He had been away trading in the Gulf of California, he said, looking straight past us at the wall, as his manner is, and was glad to see on his return that a lighthouse was being built on the cliff of the Great Isabel. Very glad, he repeated. Mitchell explained that it was the O.S.N. Company who were building it, for the convenience of the mail service, on his own advice.

Captain Fidanza was good enough to say that it was excellent advice. Iremember him twisting up his moustaches and looking all round the cornice of the room before he proposed that old Giorgio should be made the keeper of that light.'

同类推荐
  • The Jolly Corner

    The Jolly Corner

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 三宜盂禅师语录

    三宜盂禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 离骚

    离骚

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 云外云岫禅师语录

    云外云岫禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 送赵舒处士归庐山

    送赵舒处士归庐山

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 邪帝的失宠小逃妻

    邪帝的失宠小逃妻

    她本是苦逼上班族一枚,一朝穿越成为被冷落的皇后。他是九五之尊,万万人之上,却大权旁落,成为一名可悲的傀儡。他说:“女人,朕一定要毁了,谁让你是那人的女儿!”她一笑置之,第二日便计划着逃跑事宜,奈何却重新被抓回去。他居高临下的说:“素心,这辈子你别想逃出我的手掌心。”就在素心绝望的时候,另一个男子翩翩出现了……
  • 四叶草班级

    四叶草班级

    这是一个四叶草班级,集体十分和谐,三小只后面才出来哦表着急~~~~~~
  • 竹素遗录

    竹素遗录

    国士之豪迈,岂独见于汗青之业?竹素之遗,虽不彰显于世,亦可谓壮怀激烈矣。
  • 九鼎帝业

    九鼎帝业

    帝体存亡,朝代更迭,夏皇铸鼎,永镇神州。剑铳双修,天生异象,九国纷争,周皇衰微。九鼎之秘,天帝化仙,剑战帝路,铳狙邪魔,仙道征途,且看今朝!
  • 双生姐妹:凰倾天下

    双生姐妹:凰倾天下

    青莲大陆,以武为尊。传闻南王府两位小姐天生废柴,却不曾想,世事难料,没有绝对!有了武功,接下平乱使命;灵武共修,谁敢叫板?!栽赃陷害?想都表想!先回家练个三五八年,手段高明点再来!看我不顺眼想杀我?行啊,先拿你试试刀!会的不多又怎样?学不就得了。小爷最不缺的就是志气!哦?谁都不待见?后悔死你们!什么王妃,什么嫡兄,碍事的,统统滚吧!把你们那堆破烂都收起来,消停点,秘诀在手天下我有!废柴?看废柴把你们都给虐成渣!
  • 天凰为后

    天凰为后

    被当成弃子,断去天骨,她从一个单纯的圣女变成冷漠的巫女,因为遇见了他,她渐渐放下仇恨,渐渐为他打开心扉。上古时期的神皇,因为一个女人,不惜自毁,随她轮回千世,这一世终于找到了她,既然是你,那么无论如何都会属于我。他说过,谁都不能伤害她!除非,先踏过他的尸体,若动她一分,他便屠尽天下!他说过,都等了这么多年了,也不在乎这百年的煎熬,只是,我还是放不下你。她说过,哪怕忘记了全世界,忘记了所有人,我也不会忘记你。她说过,你知道吗?人海中,无论你是什么样子,无论你躲在哪里,无论你最终是不是向我走来,我都能一眼看见你。他们都说过,我爱你。
  • 天降男主角

    天降男主角

    元气少女唐嫣语邂逅了神秘少年周旋澈,一场崭新的旅程即将展开。少年,要来一次华丽丽的异世界(中二)之旅吗?
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 梦诗意

    梦诗意

    一句诗,捡起一个故事,虽非原意,却是一段段感人的故事。落红的无情却护花;白莲的愁动人心;红巾拭英雄泪破敌…………回梦诗中的意境,感叹人间的情感。
  • 清水寒

    清水寒

    帝位空悬,四子夺位。民间隐士,奇幻传说。好似这个王朝都变的不一样了。清水一样的心境,却被逼着一步步的走进帝王之尊。