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

south—to Valparaiso or to San Francisco, no matter where.Our Barrios has a great practice in exiles and repatriations,which mark the points in the political game.’Decoud, exchanging a steady stare with Mrs. Gould,added, tentatively, as it were, ‘And yet, if we had could havebeen done.’‘Montero victorious, completely victorious!’ Mrs. Gouldbreathed out in a tone of unbelief.‘A canard, probably. That sort of bird is hatched in greatnumbers in such times as these. And even if it were true?Well, let us put things at their worst, let us say it is true.’‘Then everything is lost,’ said Mrs. Gould, with the calmnessof despair.Suddenly she seemed to divine, she seemed to see Decoud’stremendous excitement under its cloak of studiedcarelessness. It was, indeed, becoming visible in his audaciousand watchful stare, in the curve, half-reckless,half-contemptuous, of his lips. And a French phrase cameupon them as if, for this Costaguanero of the Boulevard,that had been the only forcible language—‘Non, Madame. Rien n’est perdu.’It electrified Mrs. Gould out of her benumbed attitude,and she said, vivaciously—‘What would you think of doing?’But already there was something of mockery in Decoud’ssuppressed excitement.‘What would you expect a true Costaguanero to do? Anotherrevolution, of course. On my word of honour, Mrs.Gould, I believe I am a true hijo del pays, a true son of the