human
Well, sir, said the other, somewhat impatiently,
gpt
Sir, said the young man, dropping, at the same time, his affected drawl,
human
On what grounds?
gpt
Why, sir, I have an old mother and a sister, both in infirm health, who can hardly get on without me; and it is only just that I should be allowed to return, as my mother, who is a widow, has no other son.
human
Do you know this young man?
gpt
Far too well, your excellency; he is the clog of his home, the laughing-stock of his companions behind his back, and is despised by all wise and sensible people. He has had situation after situation offered him, in which he could have earned an honest and respectable livelihood, but he has declined one after another as not to his taste. He is far too much of a gentleman, in his own estimation, to enter upon any work that will involve any steady exertion; but he does not scruple to sponge upon his poor mother, to whose support he contributes nothing, and who has barely enough to meet her own needs, while he borrows--that is, appropriates--the savings of his delicate sister, who, though in feeble health, has undertaken tuition, because this brother of hers is too fine a gentleman to live in anything but idleness, and spends those hard- earned savings of hers as pocket-money on his own elegant pleasures and follies.
human
Contemptible wretch! exclaimed the commissioner with flashing eyes;