Page 452 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

(which were accessible to His Excellency’s intelligence) in a
coldblooded manner which made one shudder.
A long course of reading historical works, light and
gossipy in tone, carried out in garrets of Parisian hotels,
sprawling on an untidy bed, to the neglect of his duties,
menial or otherwise, had affected the manners of Pedro
Montero. Had he seen around him the splendour of the
old Intendencia, the magnificent hangings, the gilt furni-
ture ranged along the walls; had he stood upon a dais on
a noble square of red carpet, he would have probably been
very dangerous from a sense of success and elevation. But
in this sacked and devastated residence, with the three piec-
es of common furniture huddled up in the middle of the
vast apartment, Pedrito’s imagination was subdued by a
feeling of insecurity and impermanence. That feeling and
the firm attitude of Charles Gould who had not once, so far,
pronounced the word ‘Excellency,’ diminished him in his
own eyes. He assumed the tone of an enlightened man of
the world, and begged Charles Gould to dismiss from his
mind every cause for alarm. He was now conversing, he re-
minded him, with the brother of the master of the country,
charged with a reorganizing mission. The trusted brother of
the master of the country, he repeated. Nothing was further
from the thoughts of that wise and patriotic hero than ideas
of destruction. ‘I entreat you, Don Carlos, not to give way
to your anti-democratic prejudices,’ he cried, in a burst of
condescending effusion.
Pedrito Montero surprised one at first sight by the vast
development of his bald forehead, a shiny yellow expanse

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