human
Harry remembered that he'd want the wagon to-morrow, and there's a bolt loose, he explained.
gpt
It didn't seem to occur to him until he noticed you. I suppose one could call it a coincidence.
human
Have you any different ideas on the subject?
gpt
Since you ask the question, it looks rather like collusion.
human
Well, laughed Mrs. Farquhar,
gpt
I certainly wanted a little talk with you. To begin with, I should like to point out that we have had a good deal of your company lately.
human
That's a fact. Perhaps I'd better say that quite apart from the pleasure of spending an evening with you and Harry there's another reason.
gpt
The thing has been perfectly obvious for some time; indeed, it has had my serious consideration. You see, I hold myself responsible for Alison to some extent.
human
You feel that you stand _in loco parentis_--I believe that's the correct phrase--but in one way it doesn't seem to apply. Nobody would believe you were old enough to be her mother.
gpt
It's my intention to marry Alison as soon as things permit, he added.
human
Anyway, that is what I should like to do, but whether I'll ever get any farther is, of course, another matter. It's one on which I'd be glad to have your opinion; and that suggests a question. Can my views have been perfectly obvious to Alison?
gpt
That's a little difficult to answer; though I feel inclined to say that they certainly ought to have been. On the other hand, it's possible that she may believe you merely saw in her what we'll call an intellectual equal--somebody you would have more in common with than you would, for example, with Lucy. This seems the more likely because I don't think that marriage in itself has any great attraction for her. Indeed, I'm inclined to fancy that it was rather a shock to her to discover how it is regarded by some people in this country. It's unfortunate that she fell in with one hasty suitor who was anxious to marry her offhand immediately on her arrival. That being the case, it strikes me that you had better proceed cautiously and avoid anything that may suggest a too materialistic point of view.
human
I'm thankful that nobody could call me smugly practical. But, it must be admitted that, as she is situated, marriage seems to be her only vocation in this country.
gpt
If you let her see that you think that, you may as well give up your project. Mrs. Farquhar hesitated a moment.
human
Have you ever tried to formulate what you expect from Alison?
gpt
I can at least tell you what I don't expect. I've no hankering for a house and domestic comforts--in my experience they're singularly apt to pall on one. I don't want a woman to mend my clothes and prepare me tempting meals--that way of looking at the thing strikes one as almost unthinkable, and there never was a banquet where the fare was half as good as what you turn out of the blackened spider in the birch bluff. I want Alison, with her English graces and English prejudices; her only, and nothing else.
human
That is a sentiment which would no doubt appeal to her; but one has to be practical; and you would in any case have to do a good deal before you got her. She couldn't, for instance, dress in flour-bags and live in the wagon. Nor do I think that Bishop would feel equal to entertaining a married couple during the winter.
gpt
The point of all this is that you want to be satisfied that I can give up my vagabond habits? suggested Thorne.
human
Well, I must try to convince you, though I want to say that it was a willing sacrifice. Haven't I gone into harness--yoked myself down to a house and land, with a mortgage on both of them; haven't I slept for several months now under at least a partly shingled roof? If any more proof is wanted, haven't I come to terms with Corporal Slaney and given up the excitement of bluffing the police; and haven't I decided, as far as it's possible for me, to leave Nevis unmolested? Aren't all these things foreign to my nature?
gpt
Mavy, she asked,
human
I must confess that I don't find it quite as unpleasant as I had expected. But you haven't given me your opinion on the point that concerns me most.
gpt
Then, said Mrs. Farquhar, with an air of reflection,