human
Oh, Uncle Paul,
gpt
Was I talking aloud?
human
You? No! Didn't you hear? It was Uncle Paul. Your father was talking about Napoleon, and directly his name is mentioned uncle begins to boil over.
gpt
Ah, yes, so you have told me, and I gathered something of the kind. My father should not have spoken about the Emperor, though he venerates his name.
human
Do you?
gpt
I? replied Morny proudly.
human
Of course. He is the greatest man who ever lived.
gpt
I say; I'm not Uncle Paul.
human
Of course not. But why do you say that?
gpt
Because it seems as if you were trying to lead me on, like your father did with uncle.
human
Ah, no, no, don't think that. Better to let such things rest.
gpt
Yes, said Rodd.
human
I didn't hear much of what they were saying, only they talked loudly sometimes about the way the French and English hate one another. It seems so stupid. Why should they? I don't hate you; and I suppose you don't hate me.
gpt
Of course not! You have given me plenty of cause.
human
Whoa! shouted Rodd.
gpt
You are getting on dangerous ground again. Now, look here; why should the French hate the English?
human
Because the English never did us anything but harm.
gpt
Nonsense! said Rodd coolly.
human
Now, look here, suppose you and I had a good fight, and I got the best of it--gave you an unlucky crack on the bridge of your nose, and made both your eyes swell up so that you couldn't see.
gpt
Well, it would be very brutal, said Morny.
human
Gentlemen should fight with the small sword.
gpt
Oh, I like that! said Rodd merrily.
human
And then one of them sticks it in the other's corpus and makes him bleed, if he does nothing worse. Why, people have been killed.
gpt
Yes, in the cause of honour,
human
But that wouldn't have happened if they had been fighting with their fists.
gpt
It's of no use to argue a matter like this with an Englishman, said Morny.
human
He cannot see such things with the eyes of a Frenchman.
gpt
And a jolly good job too, said Rodd.
human
But we are running away from what we have been talking about. I was saying, suppose you and I were fighting and I hit you on the bridge of the nose and made your eyes swell up so that you couldn't see; that would be no reason why you should always hate me afterwards. Wouldn't it be much better if the one who was beaten owned it and shook hands so as to be good friends again?
gpt
Hah!
human
Uncle Paul always says that there is so much good to do in the world that there is no room for animosity or hatred, especially as life is so very short. Here, I don't see that we English have done anything worse to you French than conquering you now and then.
gpt
What! cried Morny.
human
What have you to say to the way in which you treated your prisoners? You were never taken captive with your father-- I mean your uncle, and shut up in a great cheerless building right out upon a cold, bleak, dreary moor.
gpt
No,
human
My father and I were, after a sea-fight in which one of your great bullying ships battered our little sloop of war almost to pieces and took us into Plymouth, not conquered, for our brave fellows fought till nearly all were killed or wounded.
gpt
I say, cried Rodd earnestly,
human
I didn't know about this! Were you wounded?