human
And those are really my intentions respecting you, he resumed;
gpt
Are you really _serious_, Mr. Verney?--_really_ so?
human
Yes, quite so; and I can keep my word, as you know. Who are they?
gpt
You are placing me in the most awkward possible position; pray consider whether you really _do_ make a point of it.
human
I _do_ make a point of it.
gpt
I, of course, keep _nothing_ from _you_, when you press it in that way; and beside, although it _is_ awkward, it is, in a measure _right_, inasmuch as you are connected with the property, I may say, and have a right to exact information, if you thus so insist upon it as a duty.
human
Come, Dixie, who _are_ they!
gpt
Well, he's in some difficulties just now, and it is really vital that his name should not be disclosed, so I entreat you won't mention it; and especially you won't mention me as having divulged it.
human
Certainly; of course I don't want to set the beaks on your friend. I shan't mention his name, depend upon it, to mortal. I've just one reason for wishing to know, and I have brought you a journey, here and back, of a hundred and forty miles, precisely to answer me this question, and I _will_ know.
gpt
Well, Mr. Verney, my dear sir, I venture to wash my hands of consequences, and unfeignedly relying upon your promise, I tell you that the old gentleman now residing in very strict seclusion at Malory, is Sir Booth----
human
Sir Booth _what_?
gpt
Don't you know?
human
Sir Booth--Sir Booth Fanshawe; yes, said the clergyman, looking down bashfully,
gpt
I _do_ mean Sir Booth Fanshawe.
human
Well, _no_, it really did _not_--I'm grieved if I have erred in judgment; but it never _did_ strike me in that light--never in that point of view; and Sir Booth doesn't know who it belongs to. It never struck me to tell him, and I don't think he has an idea.
gpt
I should not for any earthly consideration have made myself accessory to anything that could possibly have given a moment's pain to my honoured patron, the Honourable Kiffyn Fulke Verney, or to my honoured pupil----
human
Why, yes, my uncle might do you a mischief; as for me, I don't care. Only I think it was rather cool, considering how savage he has always been--what a lot of money he has cost us--getting up contests and petitions, and vilifying us wherever he could. He has left no stone unturned--but that's all over; and I think you've committed an indiscretion, because he hasn't a guinea left, and my sensible old grandmother will positively make you pay the rent, and that will be as unpleasant as sharing your tithes with the vicar.
gpt
We are not all so wise as perhaps we should be in our generation, said the Reverend Isaac Dixie, with an apostolic simper that was plaintive and simple. To quiet the reader's uneasiness, however, I may mention that this good man had taken particular care to secure himself against a possible loss of a shilling in the matter.
human
And there are claims to which it is impossible to be deaf--there is a voice that seems to say, turn not thou away.
gpt
Pardon me; but too well. It is to protect him against immediate and melancholy consequences that I ventured, at some little risk, perhaps, to seek for him an asylum in the seclusion of Malory.
human
Well, it wasn't all sentiment, my dear Dixie; there's a gold thread of a ravelled tuft running through it somewhere; for whatever the romance of Christianity may say, the practice of the apostles is, very much, nothing for nothing; and if old Fanshawe wasn't worth obliging, I dare say Hammerdon wrote or spoke to you. Come, your looks confess it.
gpt
Lord Hammerdon, I have no hesitation in saying, did suggest----
human
There, that will do. Will you come over to Ware, and dine with me? I'm sure old Jones can give you a bed.