Page 357 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

in sober truth, that he could not manage to keep this out of
a strictly business conference upon the finances of Costa-
guana he had with Sir John a couple of years ago. Sir John
mentioned it with amazement in a letter he wrote to me
here, from San Francisco, when on his way home. Upon my
word, doctor, things seem to be worth nothing by what they
are in themselves. I begin to believe that the only solid thing
about them is the spiritual value which everyone discovers
in his own form of activity——‘
‘Bah!’ interrupted the doctor, without stopping for an
instant the idle swinging movement of his legs. ‘Self-flat-
tery. Food for that vanity which makes the world go round.
Meantime, what do you think is going to happen to the
treasure floating about the gulf with the great Capataz and
the great politician?’
‘Why are you uneasy about it, doctor?’
‘I uneasy! And what the devil is it to me? I put no spiri-
tual value into my desires, or my opinions, or my actions.
They have not enough vastness to give me room for self-flat-
tery. Look, for instance, I should certainly have liked to ease
the last moments of that poor woman. And I can’t. It’s im-
possible. Have you met the impossible face to face—or have
you, the Napoleon of railways, no such word in your dic-
tionary?’
‘Is she bound to have a very bad time of it?’ asked the
chief engineer, with humane concern.
Slow, heavy footsteps moved across the planks above
the heavy hard wood beams of the kitchen. Then down the
narrow opening of the staircase made in the thickness of

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard