human
I'm afraid I must interrupt your reading for a moment, she said quietly.
gpt
There is something I want to say....
human
Well?
gpt
When my aunt introduced you to me just now she did not--did not identify me as she should--
human
Really, does it make any difference?
gpt
Yes, I think it does. You see, I am not only her niece, but her business woman, her agent, as well. She isn't very good at business, but still she has a good deal of it to be done. She runs this boarding-place, and people of various kinds come to her and she takes them into her house. Many of these people are entirely unknown to her. In this way trouble sometimes arises. For instance people come now and then who--how shall I put it?--are very reserved about making their board-payments. My aunt hardly knows how to deal with them--
human
It always seems to me an unnecessary waste of time not to be direct. You have called to collect my arrearage for board?
gpt
Well, yes. I have.
human
Please tell your aunt that when I told her to give herself no concern about that matter, I exactly meant what I said. To-night I received funds through the mail; the sum, twenty dollars. Your aunt, said he, obviously ready to return to his reading matter,
gpt
That would cut down the account nicely, said she, looking at him pleasantly, but a shade too hard to imply a beautiful trust. She went on much like the firm young lady enumerators who take the census:
human
By the way--let me ask: Have you any regular business or occupation?
gpt
Not, I suppose, in the sense in which you mean the interrogation.
human
Perhaps you have friends in the city, who--
gpt
Friends! Here! Good Lord--_no!_
human
I gather, was surprised from her,
gpt
They are the last thing in the world that I desire. My experience in that direction in New York quite sufficed me, I assure you. I came here, said he, with rather too blunt an implication,
human
I was thinking of references, you know. You have friends in New York, then?
gpt
Yes, I have two. But I doubt if you would regard them as serviceable for references. The best of them is only a policeman; the other is a yeggman by trade--his brother, by the way.