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

‘Perhaps he is right,’ the doctor, an hour later, said hurriedlyto Mrs. Gould, whom he met in the corridor. ‘Thething is done, and the shadow of the treasure may do just aswell as the substance. Let me try to serve you to the wholeextent of my evil reputation. I am off now to play my gameof betrayal with Sotillo, and keep him off the town.’She put out both her hands impulsively. ‘Dr. Monygham,you are running a terrible risk,’ she whispered, avertingfrom his face her eyes, full of tears, for a short glance at thedoor of her husband’s room. She pressed both his hands,and the doctor stood as if rooted to the spot, looking downat her, and trying to twist his lips into a smile.‘Oh, I know you will defend my memory,’ he uttered atlast, and ran tottering down the stairs across the patio, andout of the house. In the street he kept up. a great pace withhis smart hobbling walk, a case of instruments under hisarm. He was known for being loco. Nobody interfered withhim. From under the seaward gate, across the dusty, aridplain, interspersed with low bushes, he saw, more than amile away, the ugly enormity of the Custom House, and thetwo or three other buildings which at that time constitutedthe seaport of Sulaco. Far away to the south groves of palmtrees edged the curve of the harbour shore. The distantpeaks of the Cordillera had lost their identity of clearcutshapes in the steadily deepening blue of the eastern sky.The doctor walked briskly. A darkling shadow seemed tofall upon him from the zenith. The sun had set. For a timethe snows of Higuerota continued to glow with the reflectedglory of the west. The doctor, holding a straight course for