human
Is there anything keeping you about the bluff? she asked at length.
gpt
I hear you have been in the neighborhood several days.
human
Four, said Thorne,
gpt
I suppose you want to borrow a team from him again?
human
No, Thorne replied tranquilly;
gpt
Do you think you could guarantee me to the extent of, say, a thousand dollars?
human
If it's merely a question of ability, I believe I could. Whether it would be judicious is quite another matter. What are you going to do with the money?
gpt
The whim might last a month, and then there'd probably be an auction of your stock and implements, and we would get word that you had gone off on the trail again, he said.
human
A quiet life wouldn't suit you. You tried it once with Bishop and it's generally understood that you turned his house inside out one day during the winter you spent with him.
gpt
There's just a little truth in that, Thorne confessed.
human
Bishop's a nice man, but he has the most exasperating ways, and one would need more patience than I have to stand them. Try to imagine it--three months of improving conversation and undeviating regularity. Breakfast to the minute; the kettle to stand always on the same spot on the stove; the potato pan on another. Your boots must be put in exactly the same corner.
gpt
It's unthinkable, laughed Mrs. Hunter.
human
We once had him here for a day or two. But what was the particular cause of trouble?
gpt
House cleaning, I believe. Bishop undertakes it systematically once a month in the winter.
human
Oftener, interjected Thorne.
gpt
That is, when the temperature's high enough for him to wash the floor.
human
It wasn't high enough on the day in question, Hunter proceeded;
gpt
Well?
human
Thorne fired the things, you see, as quick as he could lift them; first the chairs and table, then the whole outfit of plates and cups and pots and pans. When he got half-way through, Bishop, who was horror-struck, made a protest. Thorne told him he would have the things put out, and out they were going.
gpt
Did you get a bump on your forehead on that occasion? Still, I suppose one could manage it by falling out of a wagon.
human
I didn't, replied Thorne.
gpt
For any further particulars about this one I'm afraid you must apply at the settlement; but it seems to me that the subject I'm most anxious to talk about is being tactfully avoided.
human
When you have so many friends up and down the prairie, why did you come to Elcot?
gpt
Your husband, explained Thorne unblushingly,
human
Do you mean to stay with it?
gpt
Give me a show and I'll convince you, Thorne assured him with a sudden intentness in his eyes.
human
I'm dead serious now.
gpt
Then, he said,
human
I'll guarantee you for a thousand dollars, payable after harvest.
gpt
Elcot, she protested,
human
I'm far from sure of it,
gpt
In any case, it's only a few days since you told me you couldn't face the expense when I said that I wanted to spend a month in Toronto this spring.
human
I should like to point out that you spent a good deal of the winter in Montreal.
gpt
Would you expect me to live here altogether?
human
I did expect something of that kind once upon a time; I'm sorry you have made it clear that I was wrong.
gpt
After all, you have stood it rather well. It's only during the last few months you have been getting bitter; but that's beside the question. Why are you so willing to waste on that man the money you can't spare for me?
human
To begin with, I'm by no means certain that I'll have to pay it. There's good stuff in him, and I want to give him an opportunity for becoming a useful citizen. In the next place, the line must be drawn somewhere, and the crop I'm putting in wouldn't stand the cost of a spring in Toronto, if it's to be anything like the winter in Montreal.