human
What a wonderful affair this is of Germaine's--eh, Villiers? said Captain Jernyngham, carressing his mustache.
gpt
Just like a thing in a play, or a story, where everybody turns out the most unexpected things. The Duke of B---- is going crazy about it. He had invited Germaine to his house, and the fellow was making the fiercest sort of love to his pretty daughter, when all of a sudden, it turns out that he is a robber, a gipsy, a burglar, and all sorts of horrors. How the deuce came it to pass that he entered Eton with us, and passed himself off as a gentleman?
human
I cannot tell; the whole affair is involved in mystery.
gpt
You and he were pretty intimate--were you not, my lord?
human
Yes, I took a fancy to Germaine from the first; and I don't believe, yet, he is guilty of the crime they charge him with.
gpt
You don't, eh? See what it is to have faith in human nature! How are you to get over the evidence.
human
It was only circumstantial.
gpt
Granted; but it was most conclusive. There is not another man in London has the slightest doubt of his guilt but yourself.
human
Poor Germaine! said Lord Villiers, in a tone of deep feeling;
gpt
If refined men _will_ steal--oh, I forgot! you don't believe it, he said, as Lord Villiers made an impatient motion,
human
Well, I confess, I thought better things of Germaine myself. There was always something of the dare-devil in him, and he was reckless and extravagant to a fault; but upon my honor, I never thought he could have come to this. Have you seen him since his trial?
gpt
No, I had not the heart to meet him. Death would be preferable to such a fate.
human
There was a devil in his eye, if there ever was in any man's, when he heard his sentence, observed the young captain.
gpt
No one that saw him is likely to forget, in a hurry, the way he folded his arms and smiled in the judge's face, as he pronounced it. By Jove! I'm not given to nervousness, but I felt a sensation akin to an ague-shiver, as I watched him.
human
With his fierce, passionate nature, it will, turn him into a perfect demon, said Lord Villiers;
gpt
Has he any friends or relatives among the gipsies?
human
I don't know, I think I heard of a mother, or brother, or something. I intend paying him a last visit to-night, and will deliver any message he may send to his friends.
gpt
Will your rigorous father approve of such a visit, since it was he that prosecuted Germaine?
human
Certainly, Jernyngham. My father, believing in his guilt, thought it his duty to do so; but he bears no feeling of personal anger toward him,
gpt
Well, I wish Germaine a safe passage across the ocean, said Captain Jernyngham, as he listlessly admired his hand in its well-fitting glove.
human
He was a confoundedly good-looking fellow; cut me completely out with that pretty little prize widow of old Sir Rob Landers; but I'll be magnanimous and forgive him now. Oh, by Jove! Villiers, there goes Lady Maude Percy! cried the guardsman, starting suddenly up, all his listlessness disappearing as if by magic.
gpt
Ye gods! what a perfectly dazzling beauty! Ah! my lord, I thought you would find the subject more interesting than that of poor Germaine,
human
The handsomest girl in London, and the greatest heiress, said the guardsman, resuming his half-drawl and languid caressing of his whiskers.
gpt
What an intensely enviable fellow you are, Villiers, if rumor is true.
human
And what says rumor?
gpt
Why, that you are the accepted lover of the fair Lady Maude.