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

to her, he blurted out twice, ‘I’ve come to you—I’ve comestraight to you—,’ without being able to finish his phrase,that the great pitifulness of that lonely and tormented deathin Costaguana came to her with the full force of its misery.He caught hold of her hand, raised it to his lips, andat that she dropped her parasol to pat him on the cheek,murmured ‘Poor boy,’ and began to dry her eyes under thedownward curve of her hat-brim, very small in her simple,white frock, almost like a lost child crying in the degradedgrandeur of the noble hall, while he stood by her, again perfectlymotionless in the contemplation of the marble urn.Afterwards they went out for a long walk, which wassilent till he exclaimed suddenly—‘Yes. But if he had only grappled with it in a proper way!’And then they stopped. Everywhere there were longshadows lying on the hills, on the roads, on the enclosedfields of olive trees; the shadows of poplars, of wide chestnuts,of farm buildings, of stone walls; and in mid-air thesound of a bell, thin and alert, was like the throbbing pulseof the sunset glow. Her lips were slightly parted as thoughin surprise that he should not be looking at her with hisusual expression. His usual expression was unconditionallyapproving and attentive. He was in his talks with her themost anxious and deferential of dictators, an attitude thatpleased her immensely. It affirmed her power without detractingfrom his dignity. That slight girl, with her little feet,little hands, little face attractively overweighted by greatcoils of hair; with a rather large mouth, whose mere partingseemed to breathe upon you the fragrance of frankness