Quotation from: The Arrow of Gold

Written by: Joseph Conrad


Two glasses of wine he drank one after another did not improve his
temper. He only ceased to shiver. After he had eaten something it
must have occurred to him that he had no reason to bear me a grudge
and he tried to assume a civil and even friendly manner. His
mouth, however, betrayed an abiding bitterness. I mean when he
smiled. In repose it was a very expressionless mouth, only it was
too red to be altogether ordinary. The whole of him was like that:
the whiskers too black, the hair too shiny, the forehead too white,
the eyes too mobile; and he lent you his attention with an air of
eagerness which made you uncomfortable. He seemed to expect you to
give yourself away by some unconsidered word that he would snap up
with delight. It was that peculiarity that somehow put me on my
guard. I had no idea who I was facing across the table and as a
matter of fact I did not care. All my impressions were blurred;
and even the promptings of my instinct were the haziest thing
imaginable. Now and then I had acute hallucinations of a woman
with an arrow of gold in her hair. This caused alternate moments
of exaltation and depression from which I tried to take refuge in
conversation; but Senor Ortega was not stimulating. He was
preoccupied with personal matters. When suddenly he asked me
whether I knew why he had been called away from his work (he had
been buying supplies from peasants somewhere in Central France), I
answered that I didn't know what the reason was originally, but I
had an idea that the present intention was to make of him a
courier, bearing certain messages from Baron H. to the Quartel Real
in Tolosa.

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