Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard
The doctor started at the suggestion. But his devotion, absorbing all his sensibilities, had left his heart
steeled against remorse and pity. Still, for complete
relief, he felt the necessity of repelling it loudly and
contemptuously.
"Bah! You dare to tell me that, with a man like Sotillo. I confess I did not give a thought to Hirsch. If I had it would have been useless. Anybody can see that the luckless wretch was doomed from the moment he caught hold of the anchor. He was doomed, I tell you! Just as I myself am doomed—most probably."
This is what Dr. Monygham said in answer to Nostromo's remark, which was plausible enough to prick his conscience. He was not a callous man. But the necessity, the magnitude, the importance of the task he had taken upon himself dwarfed all merely humane considerations. He had undertaken it in a fanatical spirit. He did not like it. To lie, to deceive, to circumvent even the basest of mankind was odious to him. It was odious to him by training, instinct, and tradition. To do these things in the character of a traitor was abhorrent to his nature and terrible to his feelings. He had made that sacrifice in a spirit of abasement. He had said to himself, bitterly: "I am the only one fit for that dirty work." And he believed this. He was not subtle. His simplicity was such that though he had no sort of heroic idea of seeking death, the risk, deadly enough, to which he exposed himself had a sustaining and comforting effect. To that spiritual state the fate of Hirsch presented itself as part of the general atrocity of things. He consid-
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