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

first pause. Their comparative isolation, the precious senseof intimacy, the slight contact of their arms, affected himsoftly; for now and then a tender inflection crept into theflow of his ironic murmurs.‘Any slight sign of favour from a relative of yours is welcome,Antonia. And perhaps he understands me, after all!But I know him, too, our Padre Corbelan. The idea of politicalhonour, justice, and honesty for him consists in therestitution of the confiscated Church property. Nothingelse could have drawn that fierce converter of savage Indiansout of the wilds to work for the Ribierist cause! Nothingelse but that wild hope! He would make a pronunciamientohimself for such an object against any Government ifhe could only get followers! What does Don Carlos Gouldthink of that? But, of course, with his English impenetrability,nobody can tell what he thinks. Probably he thinks ofnothing apart from his mine; of his ‘Imperium in Imperio.’As to Mrs. Gould, she thinks of her schools, of her hospitals,of the mothers with the young babies, of every sick old manin the three villages. If you were to turn your head now youwould see her extracting a report from that sinister doctorin a check shirt—what’s his name? Monygham—or elsecatechising Don Pepe or perhaps listening to Padre Roman.They are all down here to-day—all her ministers of state.Well, she is a sensible woman, and perhaps Don Carlos is asensible man. It’s a part of solid English sense not to thinktoo much; to see only what may be of practical use at themoment. These people are not like ourselves. We have nopolitical reason; we have political passions—sometimes.