human
You are like a pig removed into a new sty,
gpt
Not a bad sty,
human
Good enough for middle-class people, but not for us, Jim. We are desperately poor as Duke and Duchess.
gpt
That's so, Leah; but you spend most of the income.
human
I have a right to. Don't forget what I have done for you.
gpt
You give me no chance, said her husband, bitterly.
human
Every time we have a row you mention things that needn't be mentioned. And after all, Leah, you got me back for your own convenience.
gpt
I am not so sure of that. I wish now that I had kept the thirty thousand which we had to pay back, and had let you remain where you were.
human
On board Strange's odd-job steamer? It wasn't so bad, though I was chained by the leg. I learnt a lot about engines there; used to watch 'em when she was bumping through hurricanes. They were triple expansion, too. It was fun to watch the old Scotch engineer with his hand on the throttle-valve, and hear him curse when the screw leaped sky-high to race like a motor. I've had worse times--much worse.
gpt
I suppose you missed Señorita Fajardo then?
human
No; curiously enough, I didn't. There was too much fun in thinkin' what would come next to bother about her. I'm a bit of a philosopher, Leah, an' when I can't get cake I chew bread. Now I've got the cake I'm enjoyin' it.
gpt
And eating too much of it. Look how stout yon are getting.
human
Respectable men always get stout when they grow old.
gpt
You are not old.
human
I'm a bit elderly. Somehow I don't enjoy larks so much as I used to, mused Jim, thoughtfully--
gpt
Less the six thousand you paid Strange,
human
Bit of a pull, that--hey! Nice fancy price I've had to pay for your fun, Leah.
gpt
It was to bring you back.
human
To make you a Duchess, you mean.
gpt
One would think you were middle class to hear you talk of titles in that respectful way. Who bothers about such things nowadays? I have been bored to death since Strange's blackmail turned you into a pauper Duke.
human
I wish you wouldn't talk like that, Leah. Hang it, I thought you really loved me when you fainted on my return.
gpt
All acting, my good man, she assured him, annoyed by his recalling that twelve-month-old weakness.
human
I had to impress the family somehow.
gpt
Then you don't love me?
human
What a question to ask after nearly seven years of married life.
gpt
But I'm respectable now, urged Jim, setting forth the contents of the new page he had turned over.
human
I don't race or bet overmuch, an' never look at a pretty woman. I go to church, an' sit in the Lords, an' take the chair at charity dinners, an'----
gpt
You do that last because you love eating. All the charity funds are spent on the victuals, and the poor get about a penny in the collected pounds. Oh, you are quite a model, Jim, and so dull.