human
What a striking-looking man,
gpt
Who, Ault?
human
Ault! What, Murad Ault?
gpt
Nobody else.
human
Is it possible? I thought I saw a resemblance. Several times I have wondered, but I fancied it only a coincidence of names. It seemed absurd. Why, I used to know Murad Ault when we were boys. And to think that he should be the great Murad Ault.
gpt
He hasn't been that for more than a couple of years, Mavick answered, with a smile at the other's astonishment, and then, with more interest,
human
What do you know about him?
gpt
If this is the same person, he used to live at Rivervale. Came there, no one knew where from, and lived with his mother, a little withered old woman, on a little cleared patch up in the hills, in a comfortable sort of shanty. She used to come to the village with herbs and roots to sell. Nobody knew whether she was a gypsy or a decayed lady, she had such an air, and the children were half afraid of her, as a sort of witch. Murad went to school, and occasionally worked for some farmer, but nobody knew him; he rarely spoke to any one, and he had the reputation of being a perfect devil; his only delight seemed to be in doing some dare-devil feat to frighten the children. We used to say that Murad Ault would become either a pirate or--
human
Broker,
gpt
I didn't know much about brokers at that time,
human
What became of him?
gpt
Oh, he just disappeared. After I went away to school I heard that his mother had died, and Murad had gone off--gone West it was said. Nothing was ever heard of him.