Page 90 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

face, and his whole, long-limbed, lank person had an air of
breeding and distinction. And Mrs. Gould relented.
‘I only wondered what you felt,’ she murmured, gently.
During the last few days, as it happened, Charles Gould
had been kept too busy thinking twice before he spoke to
have paid much attention to the state of his feelings. But
theirs was a successful match, and he had no difficulty in
finding his answer.
‘The best of my feelings are in your keeping, my dear,’ he
said, lightly; and there was so much truth in that obscure
phrase that he experienced towards her at the moment a
great increase of gratitude and tenderness.
Mrs. Gould, however, did not seem to find this answer in
the least obscure. She brightened up delicately; already he
had changed his tone.
‘But there are facts. The worth of the mine—as a mine—
is beyond doubt. It shall make us very wealthy. The mere
working of it is a matter of technical knowledge, which I
have—which ten thousand other men in the world have. But
its safety, its continued existence as an enterprise, giving a
return to men—to strangers, comparative strangers—who
invest money in it, is left altogether in my hands. I have
inspired confidence in a man of wealth and position. You
seem to think this perfectly natural—do you? Well, I don’t
know. I don’t know why I have; but it is a fact. This fact
makes everything possible, because without it I would nev-
er have thought of disregarding my father’s wishes. I would
never have disposed of the Concession as a speculator dis-
poses of a valuable right to a company—for cash and shares,