human
I've come to borrow your mower, Farquhar, he announced.
gpt
I suppose I may as well get some hay in.
human
You don't seem very sure about it,
gpt
As a matter of fact, I'm not enthusiastic about cutting that hay. I've been putting in sixteen hours a day lately, and I expect I'm getting a little stale. Among other things, I'd got most of the shingles on the house when one of the boys came along and told me I'd fixed them wrong. Then the police have been round again worrying me.
human
Have you got your horse back?
gpt
Yes, replied Thorne, with a soft laugh.
human
It was found near the railroad a day or two after it disappeared, and a friend of mine sent it along. I understand, however, that Corporal Slaney has failed to pick up Winthrop's trail.
gpt
Why did you mix yourself up in that affair?
human
The thing rather appealed to me, declared Thorne.
gpt
I believe Jake was justified ethically; and anybody who takes a way that's not the recognized one has my sympathy.
human
Now you've reached the point, Farquhar laughed.
gpt
On the whole, the fact you mention is unfortunate.
human
I'm not sure, Thorne answered moodily.
gpt
Plodding along the lauded beaten track now and then palls on one, and it isn't the least bit easier than the other. Anyway, I only did what I had to; Lucy said she had counted on me.
human
Were you compelled to help a defaulting debtor escape? she demanded.
gpt
I understand that is what Winthrop is.
human
If you knew the whole story you would hardly call him that,
gpt
But he borrowed money on his cattle, among other things, didn't he, and then sold them, and ran away when the man who lent it to him wanted it back?
human
He did, Thorne assented with some dryness.
gpt
I'm sorry I must confess it, because a baldly correct statement of the kind you have just made which leaves out all extenuating details is often a most misleading thing.
human
How can a statement of fact be misleading?
gpt
The aspect of any fact varies with one's point of view. You evidently can't get away from the conventional one.