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

decaying strength.He extended his hand grasping the briar-wood pipe,whose bowl was charred on the edge, and knitted his bushyeyebrows heavily at the light.‘You have returned,’ he said, with shaky dignity. ‘Ah!Very well! I——‘He broke off. Nostromo, leaning back against the table,his arms folded on his breast, nodded at him slightly.‘You thought I was drowned! No! The best dog of the rich,of the aristocrats, of these fine men who can only talk andbetray the people, is not dead yet.’The Garibaldino, motionless, seemed to drink in thesound of the well-known voice. His head moved slightlyonce as if in sign of approval; but Nostromo saw clearly thatthe old man understood nothing of the words. There was noone to understand; no one he could take into the confidenceof Decoud’s fate, of his own, into the secret of the silver. Thatdoctor was an enemy of the people—a tempter….Old Giorgio’s heavy frame shook from head to foot withthe effort to overcome his emotion at the sight of that man,who had shared the intimacies of his domestic life as thoughhe had been a grown-up son.‘She believed yon would return,’ he said, solemnly.Nostromo raised his head.‘She was a wise woman. How could I fail to come back——?’He finished the thought mentally: ‘Since she has prophesiedfor me an end of poverty, misery, and starvation.’ Thesewords of Teresa’s anger, from the circumstances in which