human
A cigar?
gpt
I want to see what's doing, in a few minutes,
human
I can tell you that, Horlock declared.
gpt
Nothing at all! I was just off when I happened to see you. You're looking very fit and pleased with yourself. Is it because of that rotten trick you played on us the other day?
human
Rotten? I thought it was rather clever of me,
gpt
Perfectly legitimate, I suppose, the other assented grudgingly.
human
That's the worst of having a tactician in opposition.
gpt
You shouldn't have let me get there,
human
I sent Williams to you yesterday.
gpt
You did. A nice errand for a respectably brought-up young man!
human
Chuck that, Tallente.
gpt
Why? I didn't misunderstand him, did I?
human
Apparently. He told me that you used the word 'blackmail.'
gpt
I don't think the dictionary supplies a milder equivalent.
human
Tallente, said Horlock with a frown,
gpt
I am glad to hear it,
human
Leaving that out of the question, then, I suppose there's no chance of your ratting?
gpt
Not the faintest. I rather fancy I've settled down for good.
human
No good looking impatient, Tallente, he said.
gpt
The door's locked and you know it. You'll have to listen to what I want to say. A few minutes of your time aren't much to ask for.
human
Go ahead,
gpt
There is only one ambition, Horlock continued,
human
So this is the last bid, eh?
gpt
It's the last bid of all, was the grave answer.
human
There is nothing more.
gpt
And what becomes of you?
human
One section of the Press will say that I have shown self-denial and patriotism greater than any man of my generation and that my name will be handed down to history as one of the most single-minded statesmen of the day. Another section will say that I have been forced into a well-deserved retirement and that it will remain a monument to my everlasting disgrace that I brought my party to such straits that it was obliged to compromise with the representative of an untried and unproven conglomeration of fanatics. A third section--
gpt
Oh, chuck it! Tallente interrupted.
human
Horlock, I appreciate your offer because I know that there is a large amount of self-denial in it, but I am glad of an opportunity to end all these discussions. My word is passed to Dartrey.
gpt
And Miller?
human
I have had no discussions of any sort with Miller, he answered.
gpt
He has never been represented to me as holding an official position in the party.
human
If you ever succeed in forming a Democratic Government, Horlock said,
gpt
If ever I accept any one's offer to form a Government, Tallente replied,
human
If you become the head of the Democratic Party, Horlock pointed out,
gpt
I do not agree with you, was the firm reply,
human
You're a good fellow, Tallente, he sighed,
gpt
One more word, Tallente, he added.
human
I want to warn you that so far as your further progress is concerned, there is a snake in the grass somewhere. The manuscript of which Williams spoke to you, and which would of course damn you forever with any party which depended for its existence even indirectly upon the trades unions, was offered to me, without any hint at financial return, on the sole condition that I guaranteed its public production. It is perfectly obvious, therefore, that there is some one stirring who means harm. I speak to you now only as a friend and as a well-wisher. Did I understand Williams to say that the document was stolen from your study at Martinhoe?
gpt
It was stolen, Tallente replied,
human
A trifle melodramatic, I admit, Tallente assented.
gpt
So were the circumstances of his--disappearance. I can assure you that I have had the police inspector of fiction asking me curious questions and I am convinced that down in Devonshire I am still an object of suspicion to the local gossips.
human
I remember reading about the affair at the time, Horlock remarked, as he unlocked the door.
gpt
It never occurred to me, though, to connect it with anything of this sort. Surely Palliser was a cut above the ordinary blackmailer?
human
A confusion of ethics, he said.
gpt
I dare say you remember that the young man conspired with my wife to boost me into a peerage behind my back However!--
human
One last word, Tallente, Horlock interrupted.
gpt
I am not at liberty to tell you from what source the offer as to your article came, but I can tell you this--Palliser was not or did not appear to be connected with it in any way.
human
But I know who was, Tallente exclaimed, with a sudden lightning-like recollection of that meeting on the railway platform at Woody Bay.--
gpt
Miller!
human
Miller must have bought the manuscript from Palliser, he said,