human
Rummy we should come across that old humbug! said Eves.
gpt
Still rummier that he should be Mayor of Pudlington. I thought the mayoralty was the reward for long years of civic virtue. Old Noakes can’t have been here more than a couple of years. How is it you didn’t know he was mayor?
human
My dear man, I’m not interested in municipal affairs. Besides, I’ve only been here a few weeks, and with only two months’ leave——
gpt
Just so. Like the busy bee, you must improve each shining hour. That bee must have been a frightful prig.
human
Come, now——
gpt
No offence, old bean! Of course he gathered loads of honey, and all that: a jolly useful life—adventurous, too—saw a lot of the world, don’t you know: always on the move. That part would suit me to a T. We’re both like the bee, you see: you in your industry, and what you may call stickiness; me in my roving propensity, my incurable levity, my passion for honeydew—in the form of cigarettes. I say, Bob, I think I’ll write for the magazines. I don’t see why my ideas shouldn’t be worth something, as well as yours.
human
What ideas?
gpt
That’s an unkind cut, after I’ve been spouting ideas galore. I’m afraid the mechanical mind will always be blind to the beauties of literature. ’A primrose by the river’s brim’—Steady, old sport, you nearly capsized us! Templeton had swung round suddenly into a by-lane.
human
I was quoting a sublime passage from one William Wordsworth.
gpt
Well, never mind him, said Templeton, drawing up in front of a solitary cottage.
human
Here we are! Go straight up the stairs—you’ll find a clean towel. I’ll tell Mrs. Pouncey you’re here, and follow you.