Page 447 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

marrying, baptizing, confessing, absolving, and burying
the workers of the San Tome mine with dignity and unc-
tion for five years or more; and he believed in the sacredness
of these ministrations, which made them his own in a spir-
itual sense. They were dear to his sacerdotal supremacy.
Mrs. Gould’s earnest interest in the concerns of these peo-
ple enhanced their importance in the priest’s eyes, because
it really augmented his own. When talking over with her
the innumerable Marias and Brigidas of the villages, he felt
his own humanity expand. Padre Roman was incapable of
fanaticism to an almost reprehensible degree. The English
senora was evidently a heretic; but at the same time she
seemed to him wonderful and angelic. Whenever that con-
fused state of his feelings occurred to him, while strolling,
for instance, his breviary under his arm, in the wide shade
of the tamarind, he would stop short to inhale with a strong
snuffling noise a large quantity of snuff, and shake his head
profoundly. At the thought of what might befall the illustri-
ous senora presently, he became gradually overcome with
dismay. He voiced it in an agitated murmur. Even Don Pepe
lost his serenity for a moment. He leaned forward stiffly.
‘Listen, Padre. The very fact that those thieving macaques
in Sulaco are trying to find out the price of my honour
proves that Senor Don Carlos and all in the Casa Gould
are safe. As to my honour, that also is safe, as every man,
woman, and child knows. But the negro Liberals who have
snatched the town by surprise do not know that. Bueno. Let
them sit and wait. While they wait they can do no harm.’
And he regained his composure. He regained it easily,

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard