human
You're not much of an ally, he said with a dry smile.
gpt
Anyway, as there's no reason why I shouldn't go to The Firs, I'm not likely to be deterred. I may as well mention that I met Ethel Hillyard and begged her to call.
human
On Mrs. Olcott? Florence cried.
gpt
What did she say?
human
She promised.
gpt
Andrew, you're a wonder! You haven't the least idea of scheming, and you'd spoil the best plot you took a hand in, and yet you have a funny, blundering way of getting hard things done.
human
You have hinted that I was a bit of a fool, said Andrew;
gpt
He has beaten us and we may as well give in gracefully. If Ethel goes, all the people who count will follow her.
human
There's more in Andrew than his friends suspect,
gpt
What's your opinion of Allinson's new policy, Andrew?
human
I don't know what to think. One can be too conservative nowadays, but I'll confess that I liked the firm's old-fashioned staidness better. Even the old dingy offices somehow made you feel that the Allinsons were sober, responsible people. The new place with its brass-work, plate-glass and gilding was somewhat of a shock to me; but the business is flourishing. Mining speculation was quite out of my father's line, but Leonard makes it pay.
gpt
I've a few thousands in the African concern, Wannop remarked with complacent satisfaction.
human
As it looks as if I'd get my money back in about seven years, I wish I'd put in twice as much.
gpt
Well, she said,
human
I don't agree with Leonard's methods. They're vulgarly assertive, and the new offices strike me as being out of place. Allinson's ought to be more dignified. Even when we stole cattle from the Scots in the old days we did so in a gentlemanly way.
gpt
Is stealing ever gentlemanly?
human
It's sometimes less mean than it is at others. Though I've no doubt that we robbed the Armstrongs and the Elliots, I can't think that we plundered our neighbors or took a bribe to shut our eyes when the Scots moss-troopers were riding up the dale. The Allinsons couldn't have betrayed the English cause, as some of the Borderers did.
gpt
No, said Wannop,
human
I don't think it's likely that anybody ever will.
gpt
I must have a talk with Leonard,
human
Now and then you can see the old stock in Andrew; and, after all, he has a controlling interest in the firm.
gpt
Andrew may not do much good, Hilda declared,
human
She paused with a laugh.
gpt
Perhaps we're silly in our family pride and sometimes think ourselves better than our neighbors with very little reason; but it's a clean pride. We're a mercantile family, but Allinson's has always ranked with the Bank of England.