Quotation from: Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard

Written by: Joseph Conrad


It so happened, however, that the Finance Minister of the time was a
man to whom, in years gone by, Mr. Gould had, unfortunately, declined to
grant some small pecuniary assistance, basing his refusal on the ground
that the applicant was a notorious gambler and cheat, besides being more
than half suspected of a robbery with violence on a wealthy ranchero in
a remote country district, where he was actually exercising the function
of a judge. Now, after reaching his exalted position, that politician
had proclaimed his intention to repay evil with good to Senor
Gould--the poor man. He affirmed and reaffirmed this resolution in the
drawing-rooms of Sta. Marta, in a soft and implacable voice, and
with such malicious glances that Mr. Gould's best friends advised him
earnestly to attempt no bribery to get the matter dropped. It would have
been useless. Indeed, it would not have been a very safe proceeding.
Such was also the opinion of a stout, loud-voiced lady of French
extraction, the daughter, she said, of an officer of high rank (_officier
superieur de l'armee_), who was accommodated with lodgings within the
walls of a secularized convent next door to the Ministry of Finance.
That florid person, when approached on behalf of Mr. Gould in a proper
manner, and with a suitable present, shook her head despondently. She
was good-natured, and her despondency was genuine. She imagined she
could not take money in consideration of something she could not
accomplish. The friend of Mr. Gould, charged with the delicate mission,
used to say afterwards that she was the only honest person closely or
remotely connected with the Government he had ever met. "No go," she
had said with a cavalier, husky intonation which was natural to her, and
using turns of expression more suitable to a child of parents unknown
than to the orphaned daughter of a general officer. "No; it's no go. _Pas
moyen, mon garcon. C'est dommage, tout de meme. Ah! zut! Je ne vole
pas mon monde. Je ne suis pas ministre--moi! Vous pouvez emporter votre
petit sac_."

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