human
Well, Jack, it's settled, then, that you're never coming home?
gpt
Not at all, Dennison answered.
human
I shall come back by-and-by, when I feel like it. In the meanwhile I pay my taxes regularly over there, and I subscribe to all the charities I believe in--three or four. If there were to be another war (but there won't be) I should return at once.
gpt
Well, I don't call it a useful life.
human
Is it more useful to make money--at somebody else's expense?
gpt
It's more useful to be a good citizen; to bring up one's family well; to--
human
Let's stop there, Dennison interposed.
gpt
People with families never approve of the people who haven't those blessings. It doesn't occur to them that nobody forced them to marry; they selected the lot, and therefore they accepted responsibilities. But a man who has not undertaken family life ought not to be saddled with its cares. You chose your boys and girls; I chose Italy. Each to his taste. You may ask, 'Isn't the world to be peopled, then?' No trouble about that; it always will be. Personally my own answer to the same question might be, however, the old one, 'Je n'en vois pas la nécessité.'
human
That's where you all end; dreary nihilism!
gpt
Let us see if Hannibal gives tongue from the house, said Dennison.
human
It's a man they call the Professor; he lives behind the church, and he and the dog detest each other. Generally, Hannibal knows his step even from the depths of the olive-grove! You don't want to watch those fires all night, do you?