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

ous to him. It was odious to him by training, instinct, andtradition. To do these things in the character of a traitorwas abhorrent to his nature and terrible to his feelings. Hehad made that sacrifice in a spirit of abasement. He had saidto himself bitterly, ‘I am the only one fit for that dirty work.’And he believed this. He was not subtle. His simplicity wassuch that, though he had no sort of heroic idea of seekingdeath, the risk, deadly enough, to which he exposed himself,had a sustaining and comforting effect. To that spiritualstate the fate of Hirsch presented itself as part of the generalatrocity of things. He considered that episode practically.What did it mean? Was it a sign of some dangerous changein Sotillo’s delusion? That the man should have been killedlike this was what the doctor could not understand.‘Yes. But why shot?’ he murmured to himself.Nostromo kept very still.