human
There is really no reason why I should disturb you, Jane said, turning back upon the threshold.
gpt
A letter from Mr. Segerson will do.
human
Pettigrew, he directed,
gpt
Your lease is up on March the twenty-fifth, Crockford, she reminded him.
human
I have come to tell you that I shall not be prepared to renew it.
gpt
Your farm is favourably situated, she continued,
human
Saved any money, the man blustered,
gpt
You started your hay-making ten days too late, Segerson interrupted sternly.
human
You had plenty of warning. And as for your barley, you sold it in the King's Arms at Barnstaple, when you'd had too much to drink, at thirty per cent, below its value.
gpt
I need not stay any longer, she said.
human
I wanted to look at your farm for myself, Mr. Crockford, and I thought it only right that you should have early notice of my intention to ask you to vacate the place.
gpt
Look here, ma'am, he demanded,
human
Quite true, Jane replied coldly.
gpt
What of it?
human
What of it? the man repeated.
gpt
You lend them youngsters money and then you come to me, a man who's been on this land for twenty-two years, and you've nothing to say but 'get out!' Where am I to find another farm at my time of life? Just answer me that, will you?
human
It is not my concern, Jane declared.
gpt
I only know that I decline to have any tenants on my property who do not do justice to the land. When I see that they do justice to it, then it is my wish that they should possess it. It is true that I have lent money to some of the farmers round here, but the greater part of what they have put down for the purchase of their holdings is savings,--money they had saved and earned by working early and late, by careful farming and husbandry, by putting money in the bank every quarter. You've had the same opportunity. You have preferred to waste your time and waste your money. You've had more than one warning you know, Crockford.
human
Aye, more than a dozen,
gpt
It's easy to talk about saving money and working hard, you that have got everything you want in life and no work to do, he protested
human
It's enough to make a man turn Socialist to listen to un.
gpt
Mr. Crockford, Jane said,
human
I am a Socialist and if you take the trouble to understand even the rudiments of socialism, you will learn that the drones have as small a part in that scheme of life as in any other. You have a right to what you produce. It is one of the pleasures of my life to help the deserving to enjoy what they produce. It is also one of the duties, when I find a non-productive person filling a position to which his daily life and character do not entitle him, to pull him up like a weed. That is my idea of socialism, Mr. Crockford. You will leave on March 25th.