Page 569 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

wealth and their share of the power,’ the popular Cardinal-
Archbishop of Sulaco declared, significantly, menacingly.
A silence ensued, during which his Eminence stared,
frowning at the ground, and Antonia, graceful and rigid
in her chair, breathed calmly in the strength of her convic-
tions. Then the conversation took a social turn, touching on
the visit of the Goulds to Europe. The Cardinal-Archbishop,
when in Rome, had suffered from neuralgia in the head all
the time. It was the climate—the bad air.
When uncle and niece had gone away, with the servants
again falling on their knees, and the old porter, who had
known Henry Gould, almost totally blind and impotent
now, creeping up to kiss his Eminence’s extended hand,
Dr. Monygham, looking after them, pronounced the one
word—
‘Incorrigible!’
Mrs. Gould, with a look upwards, dropped wearily on
her lap her white hands flashing with the gold and stones
of many rings.
‘Conspiring. Yes!’ said the doctor. ‘The last of the Avel-
lanos and the last of the Corbelans are conspiring with the
refugees from Sta. Marta that flock here after every revolu-
tion. The Cafe Lambroso at the corner of the Plaza is full
of them; you can hear their chatter across the street like
the noise of a parrothouse. They are conspiring for the in-
vasion of Costaguana. And do you know where they go
for strength, for the necessary force? To the secret societ-
ies amongst immigrants and natives, where Nostromo—I
should say Captain Fidanza—is the great man. What gives

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard