human
Well?
gpt
Well, she was almost as reticent about Mr. Miles; though we know what that signifies! (But here the Colonel shook his head.)
human
What she did say, however, is not worth repeating.
gpt
Still, I should like to hear it.
human
It does not affect matters in the least.
gpt
Pray go on, Mrs. Parish.
human
Of course, if you insist, Colonel Bristo! Well, then, Alice tells me that, two days after Mr. Miles went, a shabby kind of woman had the impudence to walk into the garden, accost her, and ask if Mr. Miles (how she had got his name, one cannot tell) was still here. Alice said 'No,' and was weak enough to give her money, because she seemed wretched, she says, and so got rid of her.
gpt
One of the beggars he helped, said the Colonel.
human
He used to have long conversations with them, and tell them to emigrate.
gpt
Why, to be sure! cried Mrs. Parish, at once enlightened and relieved. And now she was as eager to tell the rest as before she had been slow to speak.
human
The very next day after that, Alice saw a man watching the house from the tow-path. He seemed to be there all day; so at last she rowed across and asked him if he wanted anyone. He said, 'Yes, the gentleman who's been staying there; where is he?' She told him he was on his way back to Australia. The man did not seem to believe it. In the end she gave money to him too, and soon she saw him go.
gpt
Another of his beggars! laughed Colonel Bristo.
human
Their name is legion, no doubt, and we shall see more of them yet. For the credit of the Mother Country, we can't shut the door in their faces after a Colonial has given them a taste of real downright generosity. Poor Miles!
gpt
Well, Alice, for her part, seems ready enough to carry on his works of charity,