human
Anything I can do for you, Chief?
gpt
Nothing, said Dennis Deventer, over his shoulder,
human
Thank you, Chief, answered Jaikes,
gpt
You pirate, he cried,
human
I don't know about 'scientific butchery,' he said,
gpt
Bit of buccaneer blood in that fellow, said Dennis Deventer,
human
I wish you would give him to me to look after. He can do almost anything. He mended my spare sewing-machine which has not worked for years, and made the missing parts himself. I believe some of them were given to Liz to play with when she was a little girl, and I have never seen them since.
gpt
By all means have Jack Jaikes to tinker at your embroidery frames--that is, if you can tame him. For myself I do not see him in the rôle of family emergency man. But you must wait till we get the things all fixed here and the shops running handily. Then I dare say it may be just as well for Jaikes to eclipse himself for a day or two. If you can persuade him to spend his time in the Château without coming into the works till things cool off a bit, it will be best for all of us. He will not find himself exactly popular for a while.
human
Of course I can, Dennis, said his wife, who never doubted her powers of persuasion.
gpt
There are hundreds of things that need to be done, and the girls and I can easily find him work for a year. The place is going to rack and ruin. High or low hardly a bolt will slide. Not a door will lock except the outer ones which you yourself have had looked to recently. What do you say, girls?
human
It is quite true, father, said Rhoda Polly.
gpt
I was trying to get Hugh to do some little things down in the kitchen yesterday, but whatever they teach him up at St. André, to make himself useful is certainly not among them. He was as dense as a French plum-pudding, and I had far more idea of how to handle a tool, for all he is older and twice my size.