human
You must be very _sol_itary, we all think, over there, at Ware, sir; and though you have your yacht to sail across in, and your dog-cart to trot along, and doesn't much mind, still it is not con_venient_, you know, for one that likes _this_ side so much better than the other. We think, and _wonders_, we all do, you wouldn't stay awhile at the Verney Arms, over the way, and remain among us, you know, and be near everything you might like; the other side, you know, is very dull; we can't deny _that_, though its quite true that Ware is a very fine place--a really _beau_tiful place--but it _is_ lonely, we must allow; _mustn't_ we?
gpt
Awfully lonely, acquiesced Cleve,
human
Well, they do say--you mustn't be angry with them, you know--but they do, that you like a walk to Malory, and this was accompanied with a wonderfully cunning look, and a curious play of the crow's-feet and wrinkles of her fat face, and a sly, gentle laugh.
gpt
But _I_ don't mind.
human
Don't mind _what_?
gpt
No harm in the world, only a lie, said Cleve, with a laugh that was not quite enjoying.
human
I wish they would manage that introduction for me; I should like it extremely. I think the young lady rather pretty--don't you?--and I should not object to pay my respects, if you think it would not be odd. My Cardyllian friends know so much better than I what is the right thing to do. The fact is, I don't know one of our own tenants there, except for taking off my hat twice to the only sane one of the party, that old Miss Anne--Anne--_something_--you told me--
gpt
Sheckleton. Very well; and my real difficulty is this--and upon my honour, I don't know how to manage it. My grandmother, Lady Verney, puts me under orders--and you know she does not like to be disobeyed--to go and see poor old Rebecca, Mrs. Mervyn, you know, at the steward's house, at Malory; and I am looking for a moment when these people are out of the way, just to run in for five minutes, and ask her how she does. And my friend, Wynne Williams, won't let me tell Lady Verney how odd these people are, he's so afraid of her hearing the rumour of their being mad. But the fact is, whenever I go up there and peep in through the trees, I see some of them about the front of the house, and I can't go up to the door, of course, without annoying them, for they wish to be quite shut up; and the end of it is, I say, that, among them, I shall get blown up by Lady Verney, and shan't know what to answer--by Jove! But you may tell my friends in Cardyllian, I am so much obliged to them for giving me credit for more cleverness than _they_ have had in effecting an introduction; and talking of me about that pretty girl, Miss--oh!--what's her name?--at Malory. I only hope she's not mad; for if she is I must be also.