human
I suppose, my dear, that you won't object to give me a month this autumn?
gpt
Oh, ho! it's come to that, has it? answered the baronet.
human
Well, I suppose you must have your own way in the matter, although you know that I hate both the place and the class of people one meets there. I suppose we can take Eleanor with us? It will be a treat to her, and company for you.
gpt
Eleanor's a little fool!
human
Possibly so; you know best, I dare say.
gpt
She tells me that she is going to leave us.
human
Eleanor going to leave us!
gpt
What is this I hear, little one? he cried.
human
You are not going to leave us, surely?
gpt
For a little while, dear Sir Thomas. Perhaps not for long,
human
I'm sorry for that--very sorry indeed. I had grown to like you almost as much as if you were a daughter of my own.
gpt
My gratitude--my love, if you care for it--will always be yours! I can never repay even a tithe of the kindness shown me by Lady Dudgeon and yourself.
human
Eleanor, I have no patience with you!
gpt
But where is the girl going, and what is she going to do?
human
Let her answer for herself.
gpt
You will think it very strange of me, I dare say, said Eleanor;
human
Heaven bless us! exclaimed Sir Thomas.
gpt
You don't mean to say that you are going to leave a place like Stammars on purpose to spend your days in a back slum in the east end of London?
human
I am going to try to find something to do, said Eleanor.
gpt
I am going to try to make myself of some little use in the world.
human
A madcap scheme, my dear--I can call it nothing else, said the old gentleman, with a melancholy shake of the head
gpt
If you feel charitably disposed, a twenty-pound note at Christmas, judiciously laid out, will go a long way--a very long way, indeed.
human
To give money alone does not seem to me enough. I want to work for those poor helpless ones; to labour for them with head and hands; to learn their histories and their wants; to win their sympathies, and to make their lives a little less hard, if I can possibly do so.
gpt
My dear, said Sir Thomas, turning to his wife,
human
Miss Lloyd has had three most eligible offers since she placed herself under my care.
gpt
And she refused them?
human
Every one.
gpt
Then her case must be a hopeless one indeed.
human
I have argued and reasoned with her, but all to no purpose, said her ladyship.
gpt
She is determined to have her own headstrong way. But I prophesy that before six months are over we shall have Miss Lloyd back at Stammars, tired and disgusted with a task which may look very nice in theory, but which must be excessively unpleasant when reduced to practice.
human
She will always be welcome at Stammars whenever she likes to come back to us.
gpt
You won't think me ungrateful for leaving you, will you, Sir Thomas?
human
That I won't, my dear. I'll never think anything but what's good of you.
gpt
Perhaps I shall never see him again!