human
This is an unexpected pleasure, Mr. Wheatley, I said;
gpt
Oh, Stringer is an old friend of mine, he answered.
human
We are both Northern men, with Southern principles, as they call us, in the blessed region of Yankeedom--eh, Stringer? We read '_M[ae]cenas atavis edite regibus_' together, when we were good little boys, and very well behaved; and so, of course, I come to see him from time to time, '_sub tegmine fagi_,' which may be translated, I presume, under the shadow of his own fig-tree. But, to speak truth, Sir Richard, the proximate cause of my coming here first, instead of going on further, and taking my good friend on my return, was no other than yourself. Thus stands the case. Your good landlady at Norfolk was assailed by sundry rumours--coming, Heaven knows how--that you wanted, and were in dire necessity for, two large black portmanteaus, which you left under her care; and hearing I was going west, as she termed it, she presented a humble petition and remonstrance to me to bring them on my buggy; to which, of course, I condescended, knowing that wherever you had strayed, or in whatever direction you had gone, I should be sure to hear everything about you at each house on the road. Thus I learned that you had first gone to Mr. Thornton's; then, that you and a young lady, and he took off his hat and bowed to Miss Davenport,
gpt
You did not get the story about the drowning quite right, sir, said Bessy Davenport.
human
It was I who tried to drown myself, and my cousin wouldn't let me.
gpt
It came all to the same thing in the end, madam, I presume, replied Mr. Wheatley, laughing.
human
He had been nearly drowned in saving you, I was told; and as his was a voluntary act, as well as yours, the foundation of the story was pretty correct.
gpt
Mine was anything but a voluntary act, said Bessy Davenport;
human
Or to be married and settled in the country, said Mr. Wheatley,
gpt
No, answered Mr. Stringer;
human
I do not like camp-meetings. I think they offer very serious and unprofitable interruptions to the ordinary affairs of life.
gpt
That's manly, and a manlike view, observed Mr. Wheatley;
human
No, answered Bessy Davenport;
gpt
I went once, and I will never go again. I did not know before to what a pitch human nature could be debased.
human
Well, I shall go, answered Mr. Wheatley;
gpt
I always do. I like to see that same human nature in all its phases. I look upon it as one of the most curiously-constructed and multilateral pieces of machinery that ever was invented, and every side different from the other. Besides, sometimes one gets a good deal of good out of a camp-meeting. I have once or twice heard as good a sermon there as I ever heard in my life--sermons that have quite touched me about the liver and diaphragm. Oh! I shall go, certainly! won't you go, Sir Richard?