human
Hello, Free! she greeted me over the dangling filthy weed that clung to her lip like--like Richard's!
gpt
Hello, old thing! Sit down. Smoke? Oh, of course not! I've been reading about this beastly war we are going to have. Won't it be a bore?
human
Do you really think England and Germany will break? I said. It was what every one said in those days, a sort of formula of greeting like
gpt
Good morning or
human
How do you do
gpt
Oh, I don't really suppose so! she said.
human
I'm glad to see you, my dear. Did that charming Mr. Pegg enjoy my little party?
gpt
I am sure he did! I replied, stiffening a little. Her tone was altogether too intimate.
human
So did I, and so did Alicia. It is about her that I have come principally, Abby.
gpt
You mean about the duke? inquired Abby, with surprising astuteness.
human
I noticed they were pretty thick.
gpt
I assume you would not have invited the young man unless you knew him to be desirable?
human
I didn't invite him! said my sprightly relative.
gpt
He called me up in the afternoon and insisted upon coming! I would never have dared to take the responsibility of inviting Sandro to meet any woman--but he simply said that he knew them and knew they were coming, and so was he.
human
But my dear! I exclaimed.
gpt
He is simply a chance--a very chance acquaintance with us. You must know him well to call him by his first name. Tell me all about him!
human
I do know him well! she admitted, lighting a new cigarette as I started a new row on my sock.
gpt
Everybody who is anybody knows Sandro. He plays about with the very best people. I've known him for ten years. But I know absolutely nothing about him. He has a good figure and a charming smile and never borrows money, though he gambles heavily at periods. And that's all I can say.
human
But my dear! I protested.
gpt
Who are his family? Surely you know that?
human
That's simple enough! said Abby.
gpt
His mother was a Miss Winton, as you know--the daughter of the American consul here at San Remo. His father was the holder of one of our very oldest titles. There was a brother who was killed in Africa in a game accident--an older twin, I believe. Really, my dear, I don't think there is the faintest mystery about Sandy, as we call him. No money--land-poor with an old rat's nest of a castle back in the hills, and not fit, they say, for human habitation; a Harvard education, expensive tastes and an aptitude for recouping at the tables here--a clever amateur of the arts and a dear fellow. And that's all. Why, what more is there to know about any unattached young male?
human
Poverty would be no crime in this case, I observed.
gpt
Though I think that if he is so hard up he ought to go to work.
human
He's not hard up, except for a duke! laughed Abby.
gpt
At least he always seems to have enough to get by with. There's no talk of debts, he doesn't keep a car, and lives extremely modestly.
human
And you have never heard anything peculiar about him?