Page 590 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

He went to see his friend Captain Mitchell—and the
thing was done as Dr. Monygham had related to Mrs.
Gould. When the project was mooted to the Garibaldino,
something like the faint reflection, the dim ghost of a very
ancient smile, stole under the white and enormous mous-
taches of the old hater of kings and ministers. His daughters
were the object of his anxious care. The younger, especially.
Linda, with her mother’s voice, had taken more her moth-
er’s place. Her deep, vibrating ‘Eh, Padre?’ seemed, but for
the change of the word, the very echo of the impassioned,
remonstrating ‘Eh, Giorgio?’ of poor Signora Teresa. It was
his fixed opinion that the town was no proper place for his
girls. The infatuated but guileless Ramirez was the object of
his profound aversion, as resuming the sins of the country
whose people were blind, vile esclavos.
On his return from his next voyage, Captain Fidanza
found the Violas settled in the light-keeper’s cottage. His
knowledge of Giorgio’s idiosyncrasies had not played him
false. The Garibaldino had refused to entertain the idea of
any companion whatever, except his girls. And Captain
Mitchell, anxious to please his poor Nostromo, with that fe-
licity of inspiration which only true affection can give, had
formally appointed Linda Viola as under-keeper of the Is-
abel’s Light.
‘The light is private property,’ he used to explain. ‘It be-
longs to my Company. I’ve the power to nominate whom I
like, and Viola it shall be. It’s about the only thing Nostro-
mo—a man worth his weight in gold, mind you—has ever
asked me to do for him.’