human
What is it?--what is it? he cried.
gpt
I have lived a long time in this wicked world, and I have not found it painful.
human
My dear sir, his visitor answered, pitying him sincerely, and hiding (like a man) his own deep heart-burn of anxiety,
gpt
I wish I could be angry, Russel. What have I to be angry for?
human
A terrible wrong, if I am right, but not a purely hopeless one. I have not had time to think it out, because I have been hurried so. But, right or wrong, what I think is this--the whole is a foul scheme of Luke Sharp's.
gpt
Luke Sharp! My own solicitor! The most respectable man in Oxford! Overshute, you have made me hope, and then you dash me with balderdash!
human
Well, sir, I have no evidence at all; but I go by something I heard in London, which supplies the strongest motive; and I know, from my own family affairs, what Luke Sharp will do when he has strong motive. I beg you to keep my guess quite secret. Not that I fear a score of such fellows, but that he would be ten times craftier if he thought we suspected him; and he is crafty enough without that, as his principal client, the Devil, knows!
gpt
I will not speak of it, the Squire answered;
human
My dear sir, I am so glad! What is it?
gpt
That a man of your old family, Russel, and at the same time of such new ways, is still enabled by the grace of God to retain his faith in the Devil.
human
While Luke Sharp lives I cannot lose it, he answered, with a bitter smile.
gpt
That man is too deep and consummate a villain to be uninspired. But now, sir, we have no time to lose. You tell me what you have done, and then I will tell you what I have been thinking of, unless you are too exhausted.