human
Oh! gay we row where full tides flow! And bear our bounding pinnace; And leap along where song meets song, Across the waves of Venice.
gpt
I ought to know that voice,
human
Mortimer, my lad, how goes it?
gpt
Stafford! cried the singer, seizing the outstretched hand in a genuine English grip,
human
Got tired of Sorrento, said Stafford, taking his arm for a walk up and down the piazza;
gpt
When did you reach Venice?
human
An hour ago; and now who's here? Any one I know!
gpt
Lots. The Cholmonadeys, the Lythons, the Howards, of Leighwood; and, by-the-bye, they have with them the Marble Bride.
human
The which?
gpt
The Marble Bride, the Princess Frostina; otherwise Miss Aileen Jocyln, of Jocyln Hall Devonshire. You knew the old colonel, I think; he died over a year ago, you remember.
human
Ah, yes! I remember. Is she here with the Howards, and as handsome as ever, no doubt?
gpt
Handsome, to my mind, with an uplifted and unapproachable sort of beauty. A fellow might as soon love some bright particular star, etc., as the fabulously wealthy heiress of all the Jocylns. She has no end of suitors--all the best men here bow at the shrine of the ice-cold Aileen, and all in vain.
human
You among the rest, my friend?
gpt
No, by Jove! cried Mr. Mortimer;
human
What was that story I heard once, five years ago, about a broken engagement? Wasn't Thetford of that ilk the hero of the tale?--the romantic Thetford, who resigned his title and estate to a mysteriously-found elder brother, you know. The story ran through the papers and the clubs at the time like wildfire, and set the whole country talking, I remember. She was engaged to him, wasn't she, and broke off?
gpt
So goes the story--but who knows? I recollect that odd affair perfectly well; it was like the melodramas on the sunny side of the Thames. I know the 'mysteriously-found elder brother,' too--very fine fellow, Sir Guy Thetford, and married to the prettiest little wife the sun shines on. I must say Rupert Thetford behaved wonderfully well in that unpleasant business; very few men would do as he did--they would, at least, have made a fight for the title and estates. By-the-way, I wonder whatever became of him?
human
I left him at Sorrento,
gpt
The deuce you did! What was he doing there?
human
Raving in the fever; so the people told me with whom he stopped. I just discovered he was in the place as I was about to leave it. He had fallen very low, I fancy; his pictures didn't sell, I suppose; he has been in the painting line since he ceased to be Sir Rupert, and the world has gone against him. Rather hard on him to lose fortune, title, home, bride, and all at one fell swoop. Some women there are who would go with their plighted husbands to beggary; but I suppose the lovely Aileen is not one of them.
gpt
And so you left him ill of the fever? Poor fellow!
human
Dangerously ill.
gpt
And the people with whom he is will take very little care of him; he's as good as dead. Let us go in--I want to have a look at the latest English papers.