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

know how really good you are. You will not let them know,as if on purpose to annoy me, who have put my faith in yourgood heart long ago.’The doctor, with a lifting up of his upper lip, as thoughhe were longing to bite, bowed stiffly in his chair. With theutter absorption of a man to whom love comes late, not asthe most splendid of illusions, but like an enlightening andpriceless misfortune, the sight of that woman (of whom hehad been deprived for nearly a year) suggested ideas of adoration,of kissing the hem of her robe. And this excess offeeling translated itself naturally into an augmented grimnessof speech.‘I am afraid of being overwhelmed by too much gratitude.However, these people interest me. I went out severaltimes to the Great Isabel light to look after old Giorgio.’He did not tell Mrs. Gould that it was because he foundthere, in her absence, the relief of an atmosphere of congenialsentiment in old Giorgio’s austere admiration for the‘English signora—the benefactress”; in black-eyed Linda’svoluble, torrential, passionate affection for ‘our Dona Emilia—thatangel”; in the white-throated, fair Giselle’s adoringupward turn of the eyes, which then glided towards himwith a sidelong, half-arch, half-candid glance, which madethe doctor exclaim to himself mentally, ‘If I weren’t what Iam, old and ugly, I would think the minx is making eyesat me. And perhaps she is. I dare say she would make eyesat anybody.’ Dr. Monygham said nothing of this to Mrs.Gould, the providence of the Viola family, but reverted towhat he called ‘our great Nostromo.’