登陆注册
15422900000029

第29章

Of course, he was too great a man to be questioned as to his motives, even by his intimates. The outside world was at liberty to wonder respectfully at the hidden meaning of his actions. He was so great a man that his lavish patronage of the `purer forms of Christianity' (which in its naive form of church-building amused Mrs Gould) was looked upon by his fellow-citizens as the manifestation of a pious and humble spirit. But in his own circles of the financial world the taking up of such a thing as the San Tome mine was regarded with respect, indeed, but rather as a subject for discreet jocularity. It was a great man's caprice. In the great Holroyd building (an enormous pile of iron, glass, and blocks of stone at the corner of two streets, cobwebbed aloft by the radiation of telegraph wires) the heads of principal departments exchanged humorous glances, which meant that they were not let into the secrets of the San Tome business. The Costaguana mail (it was never large -- one fairly heavy envelope) was taken unopened straight into the great man's room, and no instructions dealing with it had ever been issued thence. The office whispered that he answered personally -- and not by dictation either, but actually writing in his own hand, with pen and ink, and, it was to be supposed, taking a copy in his own private press copybook, inaccessible to profane eyes. Some scornful young men, insignificant pieces of minor machinery in that eleven-storey-high workshop of great affairs, expressed frankly their private opinion that the great chief had done at last something silly, and was ashamed of his folly; others, elderly and insignificant, but full of romantic reverence for the business that had devoured their best years, used to mutter darkly and knowingly that this was a portentous sign; that the Holroyd connexion meant by-and-by to get hold of the whole Republic of Costaguana, lock, stock, and barrel.

But, in fact, the hobby theory was the right one. It interested the great man to attend personally to the San Tome mine; it interested him so much that he allowed this hobby to give a direction to the first complete holiday he had taken for quite a startling number of years. He was not running a great enterprise there; no mere railway board or industrial corporation.

He was running a man! A success would have pleased him very much on refreshingly novel grounds; but, on the other side of the same feeling, it was incumbent upon him to cast it off utterly at the first sign of failure. A man may be thrown off. The papers had unfortunately trumpeted all over the land his journey to Costaguana. If he was pleased at the way Charles Gould was going on, he infused an added grimness into his assurances of support.

Even at the very last interview, half an hour or so before he rolled out of the patio, hat in hand, behind Mrs Gould's white mules, he had said in Charles's room:

`You go ahead in your own way, and I shall know how to help you as long as you hold your own. But you may rest assured that in a given case we shall know how to drop you in time.'

To this Charles Gould's only answer had been: `You may begin sending out the machinery as soon as you like.'

And the great man had liked this imperturbable assurance. The secret of it was that to Charles Gould's mind these uncompromising terms were agreeable. Like this the mine preserved its identity, with which he had endowed it as a boy; and it remained dependent on himself alone. It was a serious affair, and he, too, took it grimly.

`Of course,' he said to his wife, alluding to this last conversation with the departed guest, while they walked slowly up and down the corridor, followed by the irritated eye of the parrot--`of course, a man of that sort can take up a thing or drop it when he likes. He will suffer from no sense of defeat. He may have to give in, or he may have to die tomorrow, but the great silver and iron interests shall survive, and some day shall get hold of Costaguana along with the rest of the world.'

They had stopped near the cage. The parrot, catching the sound of a word belonging to his vocabulary, was moved to interfere. Parrots are very human.

同类推荐
  • 富国

    富国

    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。
  • 孟子注疏

    孟子注疏

    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。
  • 涉异志

    涉异志

    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。
  • 中天竺舍卫国祇洹寺图经

    中天竺舍卫国祇洹寺图经

    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。
  • 玉梨魂

    玉梨魂

    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
  • 醋染江湖

    醋染江湖

    富家少爷逃婚初入江湖,误入贼窝,遇上那绝世红颜,一个是风采翩翩,自小以诗书礼仪养性就好比温室里的兰花;一个是江湖人传冷面紫卿,腹黑冷漠的罂粟化身;初相见,她给他太多神秘,让他想要走近,大相径庭的背景和性格相互充斥中情愫悄然而生了,只是才子与佳人向来多爱慕者插足,心生诡计,有心分离……只道是江湖人情,仇怨难清,醋意漫漫,染血腥腥。
  • 记忆的琥珀

    记忆的琥珀

    “我到底有没有希望?”“如果你再这样,就没有!”......“我会一直追你到七月初,你生日那天!”“六月份的尾巴,他们俩人在一起了!”......“我可喜欢肖筱环了,她为什么就是不跟我在一起呢?”......每个人的人生都有这样那样的遗憾。可是生活总是要向前走,不可能抱着遗憾过一生。所以我人生的这个遗憾,我已经把它封存在我十八岁那年,变成生命长河中一颗晶莹剔透的琥珀。即使沧海桑田、岁月变迁,每每回首,它依然在原地,枝叶鲜活、栩栩如生。可它终究已经是过去的事情,可以怀念、可以凭吊,却唯独,不可以念念不忘。
  • 玩转春秋

    玩转春秋

    本文述说了一个逗比and吃货穿越至春秋战国时代的奇闻趣事。
  • 平凡小修

    平凡小修

    不一样的仙侠之旅,带给您无穷的想象力与全新的感知。一次又一次的灵魂冲击,没又最好的;只有更好的。我只是一个平凡的小仙。
  • 时空旅行之情缘

    时空旅行之情缘

    小说中的剧情虽然虚构,但理论上存在,就当普及一下科学知识开拓一下视野,如果你相信我,也浪费不了您多少时间,反正也是免费的,就当占用您几秒钟,不知福不符合您的情感,不行可以叉掉,谢谢!
  • 圣音爱恋之霸道邪少

    圣音爱恋之霸道邪少

    你知道圣音市的贵族高中圣音学院吗?你知道八大家族吗?阅读本书,你就会知道,看似冷酷的人,其实,超。。暖滴!!
  • 赛尔号之暗影曙光

    赛尔号之暗影曙光

    那个时候的她,伪装寒冷,以为自己在黑暗地带,看见再多的欢乐与光明又如何?那终究不是自己的——“但我遇到了你们,感谢老天爷让我遇到你们,更谢谢你们把我从暗影带出来。”——这个时候的她,笑意盈盈,站在曙光下,看着他们。心中的暗影早已被你们带来的曙光驱散,我不用再伪装成开心的样子,我可以发自内心地笑了。而这时,真正被黑暗包裹着的她正透过那一条缝隙着看着她,微笑着,也被黑暗吞没着。“你安全就好,我甘心了。”沐浴在光明下的她蓦然回首,看向远处的黑暗。“……姐?”
  • 冷情总裁狂宠杀手妻

    冷情总裁狂宠杀手妻

    他是世界首富,他创的神话集团更是人人景仰。他在商场上的手段狠辣,暗地里他是统领着世界第一黑帮。她是世界第一杀手,也是一名冷情的主。她是他的命,他宠她如命。他的爱,打乱了她的世界。
  • 必灭的蔷薇

    必灭的蔷薇

    必灭的蔷薇,扬弃的骨灰尸横的遍野,骑士的回归
  • 苍穹梦尘

    苍穹梦尘

    天使的翅膀碎了,落在地上成了我们的忧伤;世界的规则碎了;落在地上成了撒旦的魔杖。八皇之冰皇创建世界牢狱,各路妖魔统统给我进来!数阁万年,妖族反击冰皇被关押到世界牢狱最深处,撒旦亲自镇守!其余七皇接尽失踪!!天才少年误知消息,妖皇上门灭族