human
I refuse to listen, said she, with something very like a stamp of her plump little foot.
gpt
Mr. Elmendorf forgets himself entirely when he attempts to--to criticise my conduct.
human
Pardon me, Miss Allison, it is not your conduct, it is, on the contrary, Mr. Forrest's, that I consider deserving criticism,--more than criticism. It is of him, not of yourself, that I feel it my duty to speak. I should be disloyal to my employer, to my friends, to my own sense of honor and propriety, were I to keep silence. I know whereof I speak when I say that he is unfit to step within these doors, to presume to address you even as an acquaintance; and if you will but listen----
gpt
But I won't listen. I forbid your ever daring to speak to me in any such way or on any such subject again.
human
You see, he said, in the high-pitched, querulous tone that so closely resembled a whine,
gpt
In so far as I can uphold you, Mr. Elmendorf, said Mrs. Lawrence, promptly,
human
Ah! did he say he was ordered away on any special duty?
gpt
I certainly so understood Florence.
human
That is very unlike the story that was told me at head-quarters,
gpt
What was that?
human
That he was ordered away--under a cloud--in order to put an end to probable scandal.
gpt
Gambling?
human
W-e-l-l, answered Elmendorf, pursing up his lips,
gpt
I won't say there may not have been something of that kind, but the main trouble is more serious. I speak from excellent authority in saying that the general gave him just sixteen hours in which to pack and start, fixing the noon train to-day as the limit,--very probably to prevent his seeing the--er--woman in the case again.
human
Slipped out, muttered Elmendorf between his teeth, for no sooner did Cary discover that
gpt
was not to be home than he tobogganed down the baluster rail and shot forth into the surrounding darkness, and was blocks away among cronies of his own before his absence was discovered.
human
My brother is far too lax in his discipline with Cary,