I am afraid
we aren't presenting ourselves in a very favourable light."
Heyst listened. It was the conventional voice of an educated man,
only strangely lifeless. But more strange yet was this concern for
appearances, expressed, he did not know, whether in jest or in earnest.
Earnestness was hardly to be supposed under the circumstances, and no
one had ever jested in such dead tones. It was something which could not
be answered, and Heyst said nothing. The other went on:
"Travelling as I do, I find a man of his sort extremely useful. He has
his little weaknesses, no doubt."
"Indeed!" Heyst was provoked into speaking. "Weakness of the arm is not
one of them; neither is an exaggerated humanity, as far as I can judge."
"Defects of temper," explained Mr. Jones from the stern-sheets.
The subject of this dialogue, coming out just then from under the
wharf into the visible part of the boat, made himself heard in his own
defence, in a voice full of life, and with nothing languid in his manner
on the contrary, it was brisk, almost jocose. He begged pardon for
contradicting. He was never out of temper with "our Pedro." The
fellow was a Dago of immense strength and of no sense whatever. This
combination made him dangerous, and he had to be treated accordingly, in
a manner which he could understand. Reasoning was beyond him.
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