human
Give you a good-morning, sir,
gpt
And a good-morning to you, sir,
human
You bide tryst with Prestongrange?
gpt
I do, sir, and I pray your business with that gentleman be more agreeable than mine,
human
I hope at least that yours will be brief, for I suppose you pass before me,
gpt
All pass before me, he said, with a shrug and a gesture upward of the open hands.
human
It was not always so, sir, but times change. It was not so when the sword was in the scale, young gentleman, and the virtues of the soldier might sustain themselves.
gpt
Well, Mr. Macgregor, said I,
human
I understand the main thing for a soldier is to be silent, and the first of his virtues never to complain.
gpt
You have my name, I perceive --he bowed to me with his arms crossed--
human
That you know not in the least, sir, said I,
gpt
It is a good name, he replied, civilly;
human
I believe that would be a brother to Balfour of Baith,
gpt
The same, sir, said James More.
human
And since I have been fellow-soldier with your kinsman, you must suffer me to grasp your hand.
gpt
Ah! says he,
human
I think he was a very far-away cousin, said I, drily,
gpt
Well, well, said he,
human
In the year you refer to, Mr. Macgregor, I was getting skelped in the parish school,
gpt
So young! cries he.
human
Ah, then you will never be able to think what this meeting is to me. In the hour of my adversity, and in the house of my enemy, to meet in with the blood of an old brother-in-arms--it heartens me, Mr. Balfour, like the skirling of the Highland pipes! Sir, this is a sad look-back that many of us have to make: some with falling tears. I have lived in my own country like a king; my sword, my mountains, and the faith of my friends and kinsmen sufficed for me. Now I lie in a stinking dungeon; and do you know, Mr. Balfour, he went on, taking my arm and beginning to lead me about,