human
My dear Mrs. Ellison, said he,
gpt
I can assure you of one thing: it is quite true that your nephew was in the room when Mr. Bethune and his granddaughter called on me, but I am positively certain that there was no introduction and that he did not speak a single word to them there. How he got to know them I cannot imagine; nor how they could have become so intimate that he should ask them to be his guests down here at Henley. And his sole guests, you say?—Yes, I admit, it looks queer. I hope to goodness there is no kind of entanglement—
human
Oh, said Mrs. Ellison, in sudden alarm;
gpt
Looks rather like it, said Lord Musselburgh; and then he added:
human
Of course you know that Vin has always been a Quixotic kind of chap—doing impossible things if he thought them right—and all that sort of thing. But it’s very awkward just at this moment. There must be some powerful attraction, of one kind or another, to have made him give himself over so completely to these new friends; for he has not been near me of late; and yet here I have in my pocket a letter that concerns him very closely, if only he would pay attention to it. I don’t mind telling you, Mrs. Ellison, for you are discretion itself—
gpt
I think you may trust me, Lord Musselburgh,
human
Very well, then, said he, lowering his voice.
gpt
I hear that there will be a vacancy at Mendover—certainly at the next General Election, but more probably much sooner: old Gosford has become such a confirmed hypochondriac that he will hardly leave his room; and his constituents are grumbling as much as they dare—for he has got money, you know, and the public park he gave them wants further laying out, and statues, and things. Very well; now I have in my pocket a darkly discreet letter from the Committee of the Mendover Liberal Association asking me to go down and deliver an address at their next meeting, and hinting that if I could bring with me an acceptable candidate—