human
So Malory's let, I hear.
gpt
Yes,
human
You don't like the bargain, I see,
gpt
It's a mismanaged place, you know. Lady Verney won't spend a shilling on it, and we must only take what we can get. We haven't had a tenant for five years till now.
human
And who has taken it?
gpt
The Reverend Isaac Dixie.
human
The devil he has. Why old Dixie's not mad, is he?
gpt
No, he's no fool. More like the other thing--rather. Drove a hard bargain--but _I_ wouldn't take it myself at the money.
human
Doesn't he live there?
gpt
No. There's an old gentleman and two ladies; one of them an old woman.
human
And what's the old gentleman's _name_, and the young lady's?
gpt
Don't know, indeed; and what does it matter? The attorney was curious, and had taken some little trouble to find out.
human
The Reverend Isaac Dixie's the tenant, and Miss Sheckleton manages the family business; and devil a letter ever comes by post here, except to Miss Sheckleton or the servants.
gpt
Old Mother Jones, the draper's wife, over the way, says the girl and the old fellow are mad.
human
Don't believe it. More likely he's in a fix, and wants to keep out of sight and hearing just now, and Malory's the very place to hide a fellow in. It's just _possible_, you know, there may be a screw loose in the upper works; but I don't believe it, and don't for the world hint it to the old lady. She's half mad herself about mad people, and if she took that in her head, by Jove, she'd never forgive me,
gpt
You do think they're mad. By Jove, you _do_. I _know_ you think they're mad.
human
I _don't_ think they're mad. I don't know anything about them,