human
Of course I cannot force it upon you,
gpt
No; a lord cannot do that, even in this country, where lords go for so much. But we are not a whit the less obliged to your lordship. There are proprieties and improprieties which I don't understand. Rachel knows all about them. Such a knowledge comes to a girl naturally, and she chooses either the one or the other, according to her nature. Rachel is a dragon of propriety.
human
Father, you are a goose,
gpt
I am telling his lordship the truth. There is some reason why you should not take the money, and you won't take it. I think it very hard that I should not have been allowed to earn it.
human
Why were you not allowed?
gpt
Lest the people should be persuaded to rise up against you lords,--which they very soon would do,--and will do. You are right in your generation. The people were paying twenty-five cents a night to come and hear me, and so I was informed that I must not speak to them any more. I had been silenced in Galway before; but then I had spoken about your Queen.
human
We can't endure that, you know.
gpt
So I learn. She's a holy of holies. But I promised to say nothing further about her, and I haven't. I was talking about your Speaker of the House of Commons.
human
That's nearly as bad,
gpt
A second-rate holy of holies. When I said that he ought to obey certain rules which had been laid down for his guidance, I was told to walk out. 'What may I talk about?' I asked. Then the policeman told me 'the weather.' Even an Englishman is not stupid enough to pay twenty-five cents for that. I am only telling you this to explain why we are so impecunious.
human
The policeman won't prevent my lending you £200.
gpt
Won't he now? There's no knowing what a policeman can't do in this country. They are very good-natured, all the same.
human
It is because I am a pretty girl that you are going to do it, she said, frowning,
gpt
Here the father broke out into a laugh, and the lord followed him.
human
You had better keep your money to yourself, my lord. You never can have used it with less chance of getting any return.