human
Very well, I won't tell him,
gpt
That's a dear! said Kit cordially;
human
The two conspirators swear silence, then, she said.
gpt
But how awkward it will be, Kit, if anyone else notices it on this second occasion!
human
Bluff it out! said Kit.
gpt
You and I will deny seeing anything at all, and say the thing is absurd. Then we'll tell this Alington that we know all about it, but that unless he misbehaves or plays again the incident will be clo-o-o-sed!
human
I should be sorry to trust my money to that man,
gpt
Oh, there you make a mistake, said Kit.
human
You are cautious in the wrong place, and I shouldn't wonder if you joined us Carmelites before long. For some reason he thinks that Conybeare's name is worth having on his 'front page,' as he calls it, and I am convinced he will give him his money's worth. He may even give him more, especially as Jack hasn't got any. He thinks Jack is very sharp, and he is quite right. You are very sharp, too, Alice, and so am I. How pleasant for us all, and how right we are to be friends! Dear me! if you, Jack, and I were enemies, we should soon make London too hot to hold any of us. As it is, the temperature is perfectly charming.
gpt
And is this bounder going to make you and Jack very rich?
human
The bounder is going to do his best, laughed Kit;
gpt
It has caught the habit from the world, perhaps,
human
I dare say. Certainly we are always flying about, and it is so tiresome having to pay ready money at booking-offices. Jack quite forgot the other day when we were going to Sandown, and he told the booking-office man to put it down to him, which he barbarously refused to do.
gpt
How unreasonable, dear!
human
Wasn't it? I'd give a lot to be able to run up a bill with railway companies. Dear me, it's after three! I must fly. There's a bazaar for the prevention of something or the propagation of something at Knightsbridge, and I am going to support Princess Frederick, who is going to open it, and eat a large tea. How they eat, those people! We are always propagating or preventing, and one can't cancel them against each other, because one wants to propagate exactly those things one wants not to prevent.
gpt
What are you going to propagate to-day?
human
I forget. I believe it is the anti-propagation of prevention in general. Do you go to the Hungarian ball to-night? Yes? We shall meet then. _Au revoir!_
gpt
You are so full of good works, Kit,
human
Yes, isn't it sweet of me? she said.
gpt
Really, bazaars are an excellent policy, as good as honesty. And they tell so much more. If you have been to a bazaar it is put in the papers, whereas they don't put it in the papers if you have been honest. I often have. Bazaars are soon over, too, and you feel afterwards as if you'd earned your ball, just as you feel you've earned your dinner after bicycling.