human
I love her, Mrs. L'Estrange, said Jack Dunquerque passionately, on the evening of the last of their expeditions:
gpt
I love her!
human
I have seen it for some time, Agatha replied.
gpt
And I wanted to speak to you before, but I did not like to. I am afraid I have been very wrong in encouraging you to come here so often.
human
Who could help loving her? he cried
gpt
Tell me, Mrs. L'Estrange, you who have known so many, was there ever a girl like Phillis--so sweet, so fresh, so pretty, and so good?
human
Indeed, she is all that you say,
gpt
And will you be my friend with Colquhoun? I am going to see him to-morrow about it, because I cannot stand it any longer.
human
He knows that you visit me; he will be prepared in a way. And--Oh, Mr. Dunquerque, why are you in such a hurry? Phillis is so nice and you are so young.
gpt
I am five-and-twenty, and Phillis is nineteen.
human
Then Phillis is so inexperienced.
gpt
Yes; she is inexperienced, Jack repeated.
human
And if experience comes, she may learn to love another man.
gpt
That is what all the men say. Why, you silly boy, if Phillis were to love you first, do you think a thousand men could make her give you up?
human
You are right: but she does not love me; she only likes me; she does not know what love means. That is bad enough to think of. But even that isn't the worst.
gpt
What more is there?
human
I am so horribly, so abominably poor. My brother Isleworth is the poorest peer in the kingdom, and I am about the poorest younger son. And Colquhoun will think I am coming after Phillis's money.
gpt
As you are poor, it will be a great comfort for everybody concerned, said Agatha, with good sense,
human
They will make a pretty pair,
gpt
O Mr. Beck, you are all in a plot! And perhaps after all--and Mr. Dunquerque is so poor.
human
Is that so? Mr. Beck asked eagerly.
gpt
Will the young lady's guardian refuse the best man in the world because he is poor? No, Mrs. L'Estrange, there's only one way out of this muss, and perhaps you will take that way for me.
human
What is it, Mr. Beck?
gpt
I can't say myself to Mr. Dunquerque, 'What is mine is yours.' And I can't say to Mr. Colquhoun--not with the delicacy that you would put into it--that Mr. Dunquerque shall have all I've got to make him happy. I want you to say that for me. Tell him there is no two ways about it--that Jack Dunquerque _must_ marry Miss Fleming. Lord, Lord! why, they are made for each other! Look at him now, Mrs. L'Estrange, leanin' towards her, with a look half respectful and half hungry. And look at her, with her sweet innocent eyes; she doesn't understand it, she doesn't know what he's beatin' down with all his might: the strong honest love of a man--the best thing he's got to give. Wait till you give the word, and she feels his arms about her waist, and his lips close to hers. It's a beautiful thing, love. I've never been in love myself, but I've watched those that were; and I venture to tell you, Mrs. L'Estrange, that from the Queen down to the kitchen-maid, there isn't a woman among them all that isn't the better for being loved. And they know it, too, all of them, except that pretty creature.
human
Pictoribus atque Poetis Quidlibet audendi semper fuit æqua potestas.
gpt
With commissions --Cornelius Jagenal spoke as if Gilead Beck was a man of multitude, signifying many, and as if one commission was a thousand--
human
And the great Epic, the masterpiece of the century about to be published in the Grand Style, brother Cornelius, the only style which is worthy of its merits----
gpt
Something definite should be attempted, Humphrey----
human
You mean, brother----
gpt
With regard to----
human
With regard to Phillis Fleming.