Page 358 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

the wall, and narrow enough to be defended by one man
against twenty enemies, came the murmur of two voices,
one faint and broken, the other deep and gentle answering
it, and in its graver tone covering the weaker sound.
The two men remained still and silent till the mur-
murs ceased, then the doctor shrugged his shoulders and
muttered—
‘Yes, she’s bound to. And I could do nothing if I went up
now.’
A long period of silence above and below ensued.
‘I fancy,’ began the engineer, in a subdued voice, ‘that you
mistrust Captain Mitchell’s Capataz.’
‘Mistrust him!’ muttered the doctor through his teeth.
‘I believe him capable of anything—even of the most ab-
surd fidelity. I am the last person he spoke to before he left
the wharf, you know. The poor woman up there wanted to
see him, and I let him go up to her. The dying must not be
contradicted, you know. She seemed then fairly calm and
resigned, but the scoundrel in those ten minutes or so has
done or said something which seems to have driven her into
despair. You know,’ went on the doctor, hesitatingly, ‘women
are so very unaccountable in every position, and at all times
of life, that I thought sometimes she was in a way, don’t you
see? in love with him—the Capataz. The rascal has his own
charm indubitably, or he would not have made the conquest
of all the populace of the town. No, no, I am not absurd. I
may have given a wrong name to some strong sentiment for
him on her part, to an unreasonable and simple attitude a
woman is apt to take up emotionally towards a man. She