Quotation from: The Arrow of Gold

Written by: Joseph Conrad


The man who to a certain extent took my place in Therese's favour
was the old father of the dancing girls inhabiting the ground
floor. In a tall hat and a well-to-do dark blue overcoat he
allowed himself to be button-holed in the hall by Therese who would
talk to him interminably with downcast eyes. He smiled gravely
down at her, and meanwhile tried to edge towards the front door. I
imagine he didn't put a great value on Therese's favour. Our stay
in harbour was prolonged this time and I kept indoors like an
invalid. One evening I asked that old man to come in and drink and
smoke with me in the studio. He made no difficulties to accept,
brought his wooden pipe with him, and was very entertaining in a
pleasant voice. One couldn't tell whether he was an uncommon
person or simply a ruffian, but in any case with his white beard he
looked quite venerable. Naturally he couldn't give me much of his
company as he had to look closely after his girls and their
admirers; not that the girls were unduly frivolous, but of course
being very young they had no experience. They were friendly
creatures with pleasant, merry voices and he was very much devoted
to them. He was a muscular man with a high colour and silvery
locks curling round his bald pate and over his ears, like a barocco
apostle. I had an idea that he had had a lurid past and had seen
some fighting in his youth. The admirers of the two girls stood in
great awe of him, from instinct no doubt, because his behaviour to
them was friendly and even somewhat obsequious, yet always with a
certain truculent glint in his eye that made them pause in
everything but their generosity--which was encouraged. I sometimes
wondered whether those two careless, merry hard-working creatures
understood the secret moral beauty of the situation.

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