human
It's such rubbish! Polly said crossly.
gpt
Why, by spending a penny each Sunday on _The News of the World_ or on _Reynolds's_, you'd see a lot more letters than you've got there, and all nicely printed, too!
human
Alfred can't spare me half a sovereign for something I want really badly, but he can give seven-and-sixpence to a dirty old woman for a sight of all that muck! Snatching one of the letters off the table, she began reading aloud:
gpt
My dear Mum, I hope that this finds you as well as it does me. We are giving it to the Allemans, as they call them out here, right in the neck. She waved the sheet she was reading and exclaimed,
human
And then comes four lines so scrubbed about that even the Old Gentleman himself couldn't read them! Still, it's for that Alfred here is willing to pay----
gpt
Put that down at once! D'you hear, Polly? I'm the best judge of what a thing's worth to me in my business. If I give Mrs. Tippins seven-and-sixpence for her letters, they're worth seven-and-sixpence to me and a bit over. See? I shouldn't 'a thought it was necessary to tell _you_ that!
human
The man who wrote these letters is a sergeant. He's a very intelligent fellow. As you see, he writes quite long letters, and there are a lot of little things that I find it well worth my while to make a note of. In fact, as I told you before, Frau Bauer, I am willing to pay for the sight of any good long letter from the British Front. I should much like to see some from officers, and I prefer those that are censored--I mean blacked out like these. The military censors so far are simple folk. He laughed, and Anna laughed too, without quite knowing why.
gpt
I should have expected that Major whose mother died just after the war broke out, to be writing to your ladies. Has he not done so yet?
human
The news has just come this very day, that he is a prisoner; but they do not yet know where he is imprisoned,
gpt
That is good news, observed her host genially.
human
In spite of all my efforts, I could never obtain that dratted Major's custom. But do not any of the younger officers write to your young lady, in that strange English way? and he fixed his prominent eyes on her face, as if he would fain look Anna through and through.
gpt
I had hoped that we should be able to do so much business together,
human
I have told you of the postcards----
gpt
Ach! Yes. And I did pay you a trifle for a sight of them. But that was really politeness, for, as you know, there was nothing in the postcards of the slightest use to me.