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

The rich lived on wealth stolen from the people, but he hadtaken from the rich nothing —nothing that was not lost tothem already by their folly and their betrayal. For he hadbeen betrayed—he said—deceived, tempted. She believedhim…. He had kept the treasure for purposes of revenge;but now he cared nothing for it. He cared only for her. Hewould put her beauty in a palace on a hill crowned with olivetrees—a white palace above a blue sea. He would keepher there like a jewel in a casket. He would get land for her—her own land fertile with vines and corn—to set her littlefeet upon. He kissed them…. He had already paid for it allwith the soul of a woman and the life of a man…. The Capatazde Cargadores tasted the supreme intoxication of hisgenerosity. He flung the mastered treasure superbly at herfeet in the impenetrable darkness of the gulf, in the darknessdefying—as men said—the knowledge of God and thewit of the devil. But she must let him grow rich first—hewarned her.She listened as if in a trance. Her fingers stirred in hishair. He got up from his knees reeling, weak, empty, asthough he had flung his soul away.‘Make haste, then,’ she said. ‘Make haste, Giovanni, mylover, my master, for I will give thee up to no one but God.And I am afraid of Linda.’He guessed at her shudder, and swore to do his best. Hetrusted the courage of her love. She promised to be brave inorder to be loved always—far away in a white palace upon ahill above a blue sea. Then with a timid, tentative eagernessshe murmured—