human
I’m so relieved you’ve come, she said at length, slowly and painfully.
gpt
You can’t think what a relief it is to me. I’ve really no one but you.... It’s about that girl.
human
What girl?
gpt
Minnie.
human
The servant?
gpt
I’ve only just found it out. She’s in trouble. Oh! She admitted it to me a bit ago. I sent her downstairs. I wouldn’t have her in my bedroom a minute longer. She’s in trouble. I felt sure she was.... She was at class-meeting last Wednesday. And only yesterday I paid her her wages. Only yesterday! Here she lives on the fat of the land, and what does she do for it? I assure you I have to see to everything myself. I’m always after her.... In a month she won’t be fit to be seen ... Edwin, I’ve never been so ashamed.... That I should have to tell such a thing to my own nephew!
human
Who’s the man?
gpt
Yes, and that’s another thing! answered Mrs. Hamps solemnly, in her extreme weakness.
human
It’s the barman at the Vaults, of all people. She wouldn’t admit it, but I know.
gpt
What are you going to do?
human
She must leave my house at once.
gpt
Where does she live--I mean her people?
human
She has no parents. Auntie Hamps reflected for a few moments.
gpt
She has an aunt at Axe.
human
Well, she can’t get to Axe to-night, said Edwin positively.
gpt
Does Maggie know about it?
human
Maggie! exclaimed Mrs. Hamps scornfully.
gpt
Maggie never notices _anything_. She added in a graver tone:
human
And there’s no reason why Maggie should know. It’s not the sort of thing that Maggie ought to know about. You can speak to the girl herself. It will come much better from you. I shall simply tell Maggie I’ve decided the girl must go.
gpt
She can’t go to-night,
human
Well, she murmured,
gpt
And what shall you do for a servant? Get a charwoman?
human
Charwoman? No! Maggie will manage. And then with a sudden flare of relished violence:
gpt
I always knew that girl was a mopsy slut. And what’s more, if you ask me, she brought him into the house--and after eleven o’clock at night too!
human
All right!
gpt
It’s such a relief to me, she breathed.
human
You don’t know what a relief to me it is to put it in your hands.