human
Tom--Tom Van Dorn--look around here. He lowered his voice and went on,
gpt
I want to talk to you.
human
Sit down here a minute--I've been wanting to see you for a month. Captain Morton spoke all but in a whisper. The Adam's apple kept strangling him. The Judge saw that the old man was wrestling with some heavy problem. He turned, and looking down at the little wizened man, asked:
gpt
Well, Captain?
human
Tom, I've known you since you were twenty-one years old. Do you remember how we took you in the first night you came to town--me and mother? before the hotel was done, eh? A smile on the Judge's face emboldened the Captain.
gpt
You've got brains, Tom--lots of brains--I often say Tom Van Dorn will sit in the big chair at the White House yet--what say? Well, Tom-- Now there was the place to say it. But the Captain's Adam's apple bobbed convulsively in a second silence. He decided to take a fresh start:
human
Tom, you're a sensible man--? I says to myself I'm going to have a plain talk to that man. He's smart; he'll appreciate it. Just the other day--George back there, and John Kollander and Dick Bowman and old man Adams, and Joe Calvin, and Kyle Perry were in here talking and I says--Gentlemen, that boy's got brains--lots of brains--eh? and he's a prince; 'y gory a prince, that's what Tom Van Dorn is, and I can go to him--I can talk to him--what say?