human
It is for you to save him if you choose, Gerrard. What! do you think that I will allow the work here--the regeneration of the Granthi state--to be endangered by petty, miserable squabbles between my assistants? I have seen too much of support withheld at critical moments because one man had a grudge against another. Here we are all brothers. If Charteris intends to keep up this enmity, he must go.
gpt
But if he is to blame, sir, so am I,
human
I am glad to hear you say so. There can be no difficulty, then, in your admitting as much to him. I own I had thought that since you were more likely to be soon in a position to marry, he was probably the trespasser on your ground. The young lady favours him, then?
gpt
No, sir, neither of us.
human
What! you stand on the same footing, neither has cause for jealousy of the other, and yet this miserable alienation continues? You are indeed to blame, Gerrard. Go and ask your comrade's pardon, appeal to the memories of your youth and his, engage with him to bear this common disappointment as gentlemen, as Christians! No man living has more cause to be grateful for the blessing of a good wife than I, but I trust I should have been granted sufficient resolution to live solitary for ever had I perceived that my happiness was likely to mean a brother's misery, and imperil the hopes of a nation. You are not called even to make such a renunciation, since the matter is taken out of your hands--merely to acquiesce in a decision not your own.
gpt
But if I am to blame, sir, so must Charteris be,
human
That is quite possible. He believes that you have injured him?
gpt
I suppose so, sir.
human
And he is conscious that he has injured you?
gpt
I can't say, sir. How should I know?
human
Then your duty is clear. Whether his conscience is awakened or not is uncertain, but you feel that you have, though unwittingly, done him an injury. Go and repair it, leaving him to find out his part in the matter for himself.
gpt
Bob!
human
Bob, look here! I want to tell you something.
gpt
Don't want to hear it, he growled.
human
Hang it! can't a man be left in peace in his own quarters?
gpt
No, but--I say, Bob, repeated Gerrard, feverishly anxious to anticipate the impending move,
human
What? cried Charteris, pausing on the edge of the verandah.
gpt
She's given you a _pucka jawab_[1] too?
human
Last night,
gpt
Will you kindly tell me, he said, addressing creation generally,
human
And until she refused me, I could have sworn it was you. Pretty clear she don't want either of us, ain't it? In fact, I may as well tell you, as she doesn't seem to have done it, that she said she had no intention of marrying at all.
gpt
Fudge! cried Charteris, quite in the vein of the immortal Mr Burchell.
human
Then she's here on false pretences. What does a spin. come out for but to get a husband? No, you mark my words, my boy; she's waiting for a bachelor Governor-General!
gpt
Anyhow, he said at last, rather awkwardly,
human
James Antony is a coarse brute, and I should uncommonly like to see him try it! said Charteris, with concentrated fury. Then he came and stood over Gerrard, and looked at him curiously.
gpt
Were you going to suggest that we should come to an agreement to give up all thoughts of her?
human
No, not for a moment.
gpt
I'm glad to hear that, because I shouldn't think of doing it. I mean to go on asking her, over and over again, until she accepts me.
human
And so do I,