Joseph Conrad: Nostromo

PART FIRST: THE SILVER OF THE MINE 8. CHAPTER EIGHT (continued)

"The honour of the country is in the hands of the army. I assure
you I shall be faithful to it." He hesitated till his roaming
eyes met Sir John's face upon which he fixed a lurid, sleepy
glance; and the figure of the lately negotiated loan came into
his mind. He lifted his glass. "I drink to the health of the man
who brings us a million and a half of pounds."

He tossed off his champagne, and sat down heavily with a
half-surprised, half-bullying look all round the faces in the
profound, as if appalled, silence which succeeded the felicitous
toast. Sir John did not move.

"I don't think I am called upon to rise," he murmured to Mrs.
Gould. "That sort of thing speaks for itself." But Don Jose
Avellanos came to the rescue with a short oration, in which he
alluded pointedly to England's goodwill towards Costaguana--"a
goodwill," he continued, significantly, "of which I, having been
in my time accredited to the Court of St. James, am able to speak
with some knowledge."

Only then Sir John thought fit to respond, which he did
gracefully in bad French, punctuated by bursts of applause and
the "Hear! Hears!" of Captain Mitchell, who was able to
understand a word now and then. Directly he had done, the
financier of railways turned to Mrs. Gould--

"You were good enough to say that you intended to ask me for
something," he reminded her, gallantly. "What is it? Be assured
that any request from you would be considered in the light of a
favour to myself."

She thanked him by a gracious smile. Everybody was rising from
the table.

"Let us go on deck," she proposed, "where I'll be able to point
out to you the very object of my request."