Page 566 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

the Bolson de Tonoro. And the heroic Father Roman—I
imagine the old padre blowing up systematically the San
Tome mine, uttering a pious exclamation at every bang,
and taking handfuls of snuff between the explosions—the
heroic Padre Roman says that he is not afraid of the harm
Holroyd’s missionaries can do to his flock, as long as he is
alive.’
Mrs. Gould shuddered a little at the allusion to the de-
struction that had come so near to the San Tome mine.
‘Ah, but you, dear friend?’
‘I did the work I was fit for.’
‘You faced the most cruel dangers of all. Something more
than death.’
‘No, Mrs. Gould! Only death—by hanging. And I am re-
warded beyond my deserts.’
Noticing Mrs. Gould’s gaze fixed upon him, he dropped
his eyes.
‘I’ve made my career—as you see,’ said the Inspector-
General of State Hospitals, taking up lightly the lapels of
his superfine black coat. The doctor’s self-respect marked
inwardly by the almost complete disappearance from his
dreams of Father Beron appeared visibly in what, by con-
trast with former carelessness, seemed an immoderate cult
of personal appearance. Carried out within severe limits of
form and colour, and in perpetual freshness, this change
of apparel gave to Dr. Monygham an air at the same time
professional and festive; while his gait and the unchanged
crabbed character of his face acquired from it a startling
force of incongruity.