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

without ties and without establishment (except of the professionalsort), he had been asked to take up his quartersin the Gould house. In the eleven months of their absencethe familiar rooms, recalling at every glance the woman towhom he had given all his loyalty, had grown intolerable. Asthe day approached for the arrival of the mail boat Hermes(the latest addition to the O. S. N. Co.’s splendid fleet), thedoctor hobbled about more vivaciously, snapped more sardonicallyat simple and gentle out of sheer nervousness.He packed up his modest trunk with speed, with fury,with enthusiasm, and saw it carried out past the old porterat the gate of the Casa Gould with delight, with intoxication;then, as the hour approached, sitting alone in the greatlandau behind the white mules, a little sideways, his drawninface positively venomous with the effort of self-control,and holding a pair of new gloves in his left hand, he droveto the harbour.His heart dilated within him so, when he saw the Gouldson the deck of the Hermes, that his greetings were reducedto a casual mutter. Driving back to town, all three were silent.And in the patio the doctor, in a more natural manner,said—‘I’ll leave you now to yourselves. I’ll call to-morrow if Imay?’‘Come to lunch, dear Dr. Monygham, and come early,’said Mrs. Gould, in her travelling dress and her veil down,turning to look at him at the foot of the stairs; while at thetop of the flight the Madonna, in blue robes and the Childon her arm, seemed to welcome her with an aspect of pity-