Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard
quiet of the harbor in the shade of the mountains; nothing but a canoe or two moving between the ships at anchor and the German gunboat's gig coming to take me off. I am sure she was taken by surprise; I am sure it was news to her. She passed me within a foot. I noticed her wild eyes. I called out 'Linda!' She never heard me; she never saw me. But I looked at her face. It was awful in its anger and wretchedness."
Mrs. Gould sat up, opening her eyes very wide.
"What do you mean, Dr. Monygham? Do you mean to say that you suspect the younger sister?"
"Quien sabe! Who can tell," said the doctor, shrugging his shoulders like a born Costaguanero. "Ramirez came up to me on the wharf. He reeled—he looked insane. He took his head into his hands. He had to talk to some one—simply had to. Of course, for all his mad stare he recognized me. People know me well here. I have lived too long among them to be anything else but the evil-eyed doctor, who can cure all the ills of the flesh and bring bad luck by a glance. He came up to me. He tried to be calm. He tried to make it out that he wanted merely to warn me against Nostromo. It seems that Captain Fidanza at some secret meeting or other had denounced me as the worst enemy of all the poor—of the people. It's very possible. He honors me with his undying dislike. And a word from the great Fidanza may be quite enough to send some fool's knife into my back. The sanitary commission I preside over is not in favor with the populace. 'Beware of him, Señor Doctor! Destroy him, Señor Doctor!' Ramirez hissed right into
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