human
John, she burst out,
gpt
Yes.
human
But--but how can he stay? Wouldn't you rather have him go?
gpt
No, he said quietly.
human
I prefer to have him stay.
gpt
But---- She flushed and rose.
human
But how can he stay and take your money when you feel about him as you do?
gpt
It's quite all right, my dear. Business is one thing and friendship another.
human
Nonsense! You only gave him a job--well, it's a kind of charity now that you're no longer friends.
gpt
Nonsense, Grisel. It was Wick who spoke.
human
You don't seriously think that Sir John would have given your father the job unless he knew he was going to be useful? Business men don't do that kind of thing. Isn't that right, sir?
gpt
Yes. It is your father's knowledge of French that is of value to me. His domestic difficulties have made no change in that.
human
Is he going to stay on in your--in your employ, then, after his marriage to that disgusting woman?
gpt
I hope so. You forget, Barclay added in a grave voice,
human
he hesitated a little
gpt
I see. Yes, I see, she murmured. Then she picked up the letter again, and read them a detailed account of what the doctor had told her mother about Guy's condition. The letter ended by asking Miss Breeze to take it to
human
Happy House,
gpt
My mother had a note from her, Wick remarked,
human
he added,
gpt
he added,
human
Did she? Has Miss Perkins written to her?
gpt
Yes. She was awfully touched by the letter. So was Mrs. Perkins. Your mother's promised to go and see them as soon as she gets home.
human
By the way, as she's so confined to the house by her mother's health, you might take me to see her one afternoon. Or--or Sir John would let us go in the car.
gpt
Any day you say, my dear.
human
That _would_ be kind of you, he answered.
gpt
I've been longing to suggest it, but didn't quite like to.
human
When can you go? he went on, pursuing his advantage with a beaming face.
gpt
Could you go to-morrow?
human
I'm afraid I've got to go to Derby, Sir John put in.
gpt
I'm motoring two men down on rather important business.
human
And on Friday, Grisel added hastily,
gpt
I've an engagement.
human
What about Saturday?
gpt
Saturday I'm going to be with Maud all day.
human
There you are! Always busy. But I do want you to meet Doll. I'm sure you'll like her. She's awfully interested in you. I think, he added fatuously as his downright little sister stared at him in amazement approaching open-mouthed astonishment,
gpt
I should think so,
human
Chiswick postmark. Miss Perkins, of course.
gpt
Happy House, and so far as he could judge Oliver was regarded there still as the unimportant, though pushful reporter, who had been sent to write up Hermione's wedding in the previous July. Why the young man was concealing his remarkable advance Barclay had no idea. But he did not consider it his business to tell what he knew, and even Wick himself had no idea of his rival's information.
human
The beautiful Miss Perkins, the elder man thought, as he walked along in the bright moonlight,
gpt
Boss, whose eyes twinkled as he asked him each time that they met:
human
Well, Mr. Wick, things going well, I hope? And Wick, knowing that he knew (for he knew everything), that things were being made damnably hard for him, invariably answered with a corresponding twinkle and a pugnacious tightening of the lips:
gpt
Top-hole. But now, after this second evening he had spent at
human
Happy House