Читать книгу The Plumed Serpent. Historical Novel - Life and Love after the Mexico Revolution онлайн

105 страница из 172

Kate widened her eyes in amazement at this torrent from the young Mirabal. Then she laughed.

‘I think it’s a bit overwhelming!’ she said, non-committal.

‘Ah! Yes! Exactly! Exactly! But how good to be overwhelmed! How splendid if something will overwhelm me! Ah, I am so glad!’

The last word came with a clapping French resonance, and the young man dived for his soup again. He was lean and pale, but burning with an intense, crazy energy.

‘You see,’ said young Garcia, raising his full, bright dark eyes to Kate, half aggressive and half bashful: ‘we must do something for Mexico. If we don’t, it will go under, no? You say you don’t like socialism. I don’t think I do either. But if there is nothing else but socialism, we will have socialism. If there is nothing better. But perhaps there is.’

‘Why should Mexico go under?’ said Kate. ‘There are lots of children everywhere.’

‘Yes. But the last census of Porfirio Diaz gave seventeen million people in Mexico, and the census of last year gave only thirteen millions. Maybe the count was not quite right. But you count four million people fewer, in twenty years, then in sixty years there will be no Mexicans: only foreigners, who don’t die.’