human
I do not think my niece is at all infatuated with Mr. Forrest, Mr. Elmendorf, said she, somewhat severely.
gpt
She admires him greatly, and there happens to be no one else to occupy her thoughts just now. I beg you, therefore, to dismiss that idea at once and for all time.
human
I should be glad to do so, Mrs. Lawrence, replied the tutor, with much gravity,
gpt
What talk? Where?
human
I do not like to mention names, Mrs. Lawrence. My acquaintance among the officials at head-quarters has become extensive, and much is said in confidence to me that perhaps wouldn't be heard in their chat with others. Indeed, I may say that some among the more thoughtful and broad-minded of their number--there are a few such--have sought my views upon important questions of the day and have favored me with their opinions.
gpt
And do you mean that Florence has been discussed there, among all those men,--those officers?
human
Of course I ought not to betray my hosts or give away their secrets, but do you suppose that there, any more than among the loungers of the clubs, a woman's name is never discussed?
gpt
I thought they prided themselves on being gentlemen, said Mrs. Lawrence, wrathfully;
human
Ah, my dear madam, there's the trouble. A man is not necessarily a gentleman because wealth and social position impel him to membership in one of these forcing-houses of luxurious iniquity we call clubs, or because four years in a West-Point monkey-jacket win him a commission as a genteel loafer. A woman's name is held far less in reverence among them than it is among the humblest of our masses. Oh, yes, I anticipate your question, said he, at this juncture, with deprecatory gesture and faint, significant smile.
gpt
True, I am not personally a member of any of those clubs, nor do I wish to be, but I know men and mingle with them elsewhere,--everywhere else, in fact. The roof of the club-house cloaks their misdeeds, and worse things are said and done beneath it than outside. As for officers, the only reason why there is apt to be a stronger percentage of common decency among them is that they are chosen from the masses of the people and sent to the Point simply to be moulded, not reformed. Mr. Forrest is an example of the so-called blue-blooded stock. His people are 'swells,' so to speak,--people whose heads are held very high and their morals correspondingly low,--people who think it condescension on their part to notice wage-workers except as menials. Hence I am in no wise surprised to hear of him as I do, even among those who are--well, of his own cloth.
human
Surely, Mr. Elmendorf, the officers who have so often dined here do not entertain ill opinions of Mr. Forrest. Such men as Colonel Kenyon, Captain Waring, Major Cranston,--they have known him long and well, and they speak of him, to us at least, most highly.
gpt
Oh, certainly, said he.
human
And you really mean that from them--among them you have learned these--these----
gpt
These particulars of Mr. Forrest's sudden orders to leave the city? said Elmendorf, dryly, with another shrug.
human
From where else? Even to the name and station of the lady in the case.
gpt
You could move that old barrack out to the suburbs, cut down them trees, and cut up the place into buildin'-lots and sell any one of them for enough to build a dozen better houses, said a neighbor who had prospered, as had the Cranstons, by holding on to the paternal estate. But Cranston smilingly said he preferred not to cut up or cut down.
human
Them trees and he had grown up together. They were saplings when he was a boy, and had grown to sturdy oakhood when his own youngsters, plains-bred little cavaliers, used to gather their Chicago friends about them under the whispering leaves and thrill their juvenile souls with stirring tales of their doings
gpt
Louis Cranston was believed to have participated with his father's troop in many a pitched battle with the savage foe before his tenth birthday, and
human
Patchie,