Nostromo - A Tale of the Seaboard.pdf - Planet eBook

The women of that class especially seemed positively fascinatedby the long drooping nose, the peaked chin, theheavy lower lip, the black silk eyepatch and band slantingrakishly over the forehead. His high rank always procuredan audience of Caballeros for his sporting stories, which hedetailed very well with a simple, grave enjoyment. As to thesociety of ladies, it was irksome by the restraints it imposedwithout any equivalent, as far as he could see. He had not,perhaps, spoken three times on the whole to Mrs. Gouldsince he had taken up his high command; but he had observedher frequently riding with the Senor Administrador,and had pronounced that there was more sense in her littlebridle-hand than in all the female heads in Sulaco. His impulsehad been to be very civil on parting to a woman whodid not wobble in the saddle, and happened to be the wifeof a personality very important to a man always short ofmoney. He even pushed his attentions so far as to desire theaide-de-camp at his side (a thick-set, short captain with aTartar physiognomy) to bring along a corporal with a file ofmen in front of the carriage, lest the crowd in its backwardsurges should ‘incommode the mules of the senora.’ Then,turning to the small knot of silent Europeans looking onwithin earshot, he raised his voice protectingly—‘Senores, have no apprehension. Go on quietly makingyour Ferro Carril—your railways, your telegraphs.Your—There’s enough wealth in Costaguana to pay for everything—orelse you would not be here. Ha! ha! Don’tmind this little picardia of my friend Montero. In a littlewhile you shall behold his dyed moustaches through the