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22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She'll not dream anything's wrong here if we're careful, said Green."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Will you wait for her, or shall I?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is up to you, Green. I'll leave you. You might have had Malley, but I can't drive the car myself, and I want to get back to town. Do you think you'll be able to manage alone?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think so,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'll get the local superintendent to send up a couple of plain-clothes men as we pass. You'll bring her straight back to town."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ay!"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You'll charge him with the murder directly you reach town, I suppose?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Murder? repeated Foyle."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Grell did not commit the murder. I shall detain him a day before making any charge against him at all. Drive on, Malley. See you later, Green."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "On inquiry at Scotland Yard yesterday, a representative of this journal was informed that the officers engaged on the case expect to be in a position to clear up the mystery in the course of the next few days."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That ought to do, he muttered as he blew down a speaking-tube. To the detective-inspector who came in response to his summons he handed the paper."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Have fifty copies of that made, and bring me one. Put some one to 'phone through to all the journalists on the list, asking 'em to call here at half-past six to-night. They're each to have a copy of that."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sir Hilary just come in, sir,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One moment, Sir Hilary, said the superintendent, and dashed out, to return again almost immediately."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I just wanted to make certain that we shouldn't be disturbed. There's a lot to tell you. Things have been happening."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "So I gather, said the other, settling himself in the arm-chair."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You've got Grell, I hear. What's the next move? Do his finger-prints agree?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They do not. He is not the murderer, but he won't say who is. The next move is, that I intend that to go in all the morning papers."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't quite follow, he said as he handed it back."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It hints that Grell will be charged with the murder."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Exactly. It is intended to convey that impression. To tell you the truth, I have a piece of evidence of which I have not spoken to you before. It indicates a person possibly guilty whom we must not neglect. If she is guilty--which I half doubt--that paragraph may help us to get at the missing evidence."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't believe it, man! he cried."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't believe it! It's incredible. You've made a mistake. It can't be. Why, you've believed it was Grell yourself all along. If you've made a mistake, then why not now?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You can draw your own inference from the facts, Sir Hilary, he said coldly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am clear in my mind. I have done nothing, because I want to make the evidence as to motive indisputable. Should I find I am wrong I shall, of course, write out my resignation."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't be offended, Foyle, he said, more mildly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I beg your pardon. It was just a bit startling at first. We've been associated too long for misunderstanding. I'll back you up, and there's not going to be any talk of resignations."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thank you, Sir Hilary,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Brixton Prison,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sorry to trouble you, Abramovitch, he said briskly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I just wanted to have a little talk with you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You must go to my solicitor if you have any questions to ask,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That wouldn't be of much use, would it? he asked smilingly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What I want to speak to you about has nothing to do with the present charge against you. Mr. Grell is in our hands now, and in the circumstances I thought you might care to know it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You've arrested Mr. Grell? he cried."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are you lying?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am not lying. He is in custody and may be charged unless you like to clear him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You think I can clear him? he said slowly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are wrong."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But you know he never committed the murder? The words came sharp as a pistol shot. Ivan never answered, and Foyle went on:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You have done all you could to help him escape us. Now we have got him you can only help him by telling the truth. There was some strong motive to induce you to take all the risks you have done. What is at the back of it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You had reason for refusing to speak before, he insisted."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm not blaming you. Consider the thing fairly as it stands now and you'll see that you best serve your master by perfect frankness. I'm not trying to trap you. You may trust me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are right. Secrecy can no longer do good, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I will tell you what I know."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was always what you English call a bad egg. I broke with my family many years ago--it doesn't matter who they were--and left Russia to become an adventurer at large. In the years that followed I was everything everywhere--seaman, barber, waiter, soldier, and gambling-house cheat. I wasn't particular how I picked up a living nor where it led me. All that won't interest you. I was operator in a gambling-joint at San Francisco when I first met Goldenburg, though I knew him by reputation. He came to our place now and again, and we were on speaking terms. After that Grell came and I mistook him for the other man. That was how we first became acquainted."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That would be almost five years ago?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, next day I was fired from my job. I could guess that the people whose game I'd spoilt were at the bottom of it, but that didn't worry me much. I had a bit of money and I came back to Europe--London, Paris, Vienna, Rome--everywhere but Russia. I lived sometimes by my wits, sometimes by any odd job I could turn my hand to. My father and mother had both died, and my only living relative was my sister, a girl of eighteen, living in St. Petersburg. From her I heard occasionally."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was at his suggestion that I travelled as his valet. My appearance had altered since I was last in Russia, but difficulties might have arisen. We travelled night and day, but we were too late. The girl who had never harmed a single person in her white life was dead--killed by the hardships to which she had been subjected. I--I----"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Grell advised me to come away, but I was determined to stay for a while. I had work to do. I told him nothing, but steadily I sought for the man who had killed her as surely as though he had plunged a dagger in her heart. I found him at last----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Wait a moment, interjected Foyle quickly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I want to know nothing of that; that has nothing to do with me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was through Grell that I got away scot-free. No one suspected the valet of so well-known a man. He asked no questions, though I could tell that he knew what--what I knew. He risked much to shield me, although never a word passed between us. Could I do less when it came to my turn? I came back to England with him, and I remained his personal servant. I kept my distance from the other servants."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In fact, you pretended to have little acquaintance with English?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That was enough for me. I showed them up and left them. I did not hear Mr. Grell return, but about ten o'clock he rang for me and met me at the door of his study. He told me that he was expecting a lady, and if she called she was to be brought straight up; and he said the other people were just going. Almost immediately after he told me she came. Wills was going to the door, but I was in front, and I showed her up."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Who was she?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I couldn't see her face; she wore a heavy veil."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "All right; go on."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "When I got back with the bag, he had finished. He put on a hat and overcoat and we went out, walked to Victoria Station, and from there took a taxicab to Charing Cross. From there we walked to an all-night Turkish bath establishment, and that gave us an opportunity to change into some rough tweeds that I'd shoved in the bag. In the morning we went to the East End and fixed up rooms with some people I knew of. We had come away without any money, but Grell somehow managed to get in touch with the Princess Petrovska, with whom, apparently, he had some arrangement. She had, it seems, booked through to Paris from Charing Cross, but instead of getting on the boat at Folkestone had returned by the next train and taken quiet lodgings at Kennington. That was to put you on a false track in case of accidents."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So that was how it was done,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Grell knew nothing about that incident till it was over. He was staying in Grave Street at the time, and the idea occurred to me of holding your man as a hostage. We meanwhile contrived to send a note to Sir Ralph Fairfield. In case of accidents, I was to meet him in Grave Street and lead him round about till I was certain he was not followed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then you were the black-bearded man who fired at me! exclaimed Foyle."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I might have guessed it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And so you were the navvy! said Ivan."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I didn't know that, but I at once made up my mind it was dangerous to meddle with Fairfield if he was watched. I gave him the slip, went back to Mr. Grell, and typed out a note to you. You got it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes. I got it. Where did the paper you used come from?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I forget--no--I got it from Mr. Grell. He tore off a half-sheet from a letter."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Princess undertook to see Lady Eileen--with what result you know. You know all that has happened since. I do not regret what I have done. If the killing of you or any other man would have saved Grell, I would not have hesitated."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thanks, said Foyle drily."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You had a good try more than once. Now, are you willing to have your statement taken down by a shorthand writer--so far as it refers to events in London?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'll repeat it when you like, answered Ivan, squaring his shoulders."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now you say that you want to prove Mr. Grell's innocent I have nothing to hide. For I am certain that he is innocent."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Tell me one other thing, said the superintendent."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is the association between Petrovska and Grell? Why should she have taken part in this business?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That you must find out either from Mr. Grell or her. I don't know."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All right, Ivan. I'll see you again shortly. Meanwhile, I'll send some one along to get your statement. I don't think you'll regret having decided to speak. Good-bye."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, sir, answered Green."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She's at Malchester Row now. There was no trouble at all. She came up to the Grange at half-past three, in a car, and asked the maid who answered the door for Mrs. Ellis. The girl showed her into a sitting-room, acting on my instructions, and I walked in on her and told her I should detain her. She was angry at first, but in a moment or two she laughed, and asked if Mr. Grell was taken. That was all there was to it. I brought her back straight away by train. She seemed to treat it as a joke, but never a word about the case did she utter."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And how did you get on, Foyle?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am sending a man up to get a statement from Ivan, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There's much to be said for that Russian if his story is true--and I couldn't see any holes in it."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then Grell admitted the murder to Ivan? said the latter, turning a puzzled face to Foyle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You told me he was not the murderer."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nor was he, answered the superintendent."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "According to Ivan, there was no blood on his clothes or on his hands a few minutes after Goldenburg was killed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, this beats all, exclaimed Green."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm hanged if I understand!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It lies between the three of them, said Foyle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am inclined to believe that we have been rather wrong in our first impressions of the finger-prints. But it never does to take chances. Suppose you go and take charge at Berkeley Square. There are four men there already. Lady Eileen has certainly had something to do with this, and we don't want to lose sight of her."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And now? he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It seems to me rather a deadlock if Mr. Grell and the Princess remain obstinate."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, agreed Foyle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's one of those cases in which it is a pity we're not allowed to adopt the French method of confrontation. Still, there's a shot in the locker yet. Perhaps you might care to come along with me and see Grell now. These disclosures of Ivan's make a difference, and rather bear out a suspicion I've had since I talked with Grell."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you know Sir Hilary Thornton?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How do you do, Mr. Grell? I should have been glad to have met you under happier circumstances, but I assure you that the respect in which I have always held you is not lessened by this unfortunate business."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's very good of you, I'm sure, said Grell, and a smile illumined his face as he added:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Though I don't know why this matter should increase your respect."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't you? said Foyle, laying stress on his words and eyeing the other meaningly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Suppose it is because since I left you this morning, Ivan Abramovitch has made a full statement to me?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What's that to do with me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A great deal, if it's true, as I know it to be. Now, Mr. Grell, you are not obliged to answer any questions unless you like--you know that--but I warn you that your failing to do so cannot prevent us arresting the guilty person. We know you are innocent--though whether you may be charged as an accessory after the fact or not is another question. What do you say?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you've made up your minds, so much the better for me, he said with a half laugh."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Who have you fixed your suspicions on?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We are only anxious to spare you as much as possible. You are a prominent man, and though you must be brought in, it will serve no purpose to increase what will create enough scandal."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I fear you are wasting your time, gentlemen, said Grell, stretching himself wearily."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Won't it cut this short if I admit that I killed Goldenburg? I will sign a confession if it will please you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I told you so."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That is childlike. Your finger-prints prove it is false. Perhaps you will tell us what underlies this note that you sent to Lady Eileen Meredith the day you left London."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We are both in imminent danger unless I can procure sufficient money to help me evade the search that is being made for me. If I am arrested, I fear ultimately exposure must come. If you have no other way of obtaining money, will you try to get an open cheque from your father? You could cash it yourself for notes and gold and bring it to me. For God's sake do what you can. I am desperate."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where did you get that? demanded Grell."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Eileen told me she had burnt it."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She did burn it, he answered."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I chanced to be able to retrieve the message. I feel certain that, however dire your necessity, you would not have written to her in that strain unless you had some strong reason. Who did you mean when you said 'both in imminent danger'?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ivan and myself, of course."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ivan was under arrest at that time. Nothing could avert the danger from him. And you say that you feared exposure if you were arrested. That, of course, meant that you would be unable to keep shielding the person you are shielding?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am shielding no one,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You can, of course, make any answer you like. Suppose we go on to another point which perhaps you will have no objection to clearing up now. We have Harry Goldenburg's record. We know he had been blackmailing you, and we know that he was your brother. No; sit still. He was your brother, was he not?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My half-brother. How did you know that? How did you know he was blackmailing me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, simply enough. The likeness was one thing, and a hint I got from Ivan that he was a relative confirmed me in an opinion I had already formed by another fact--which I observed when I saw you at Dalehurst--that you had a similar walk. You will remember, I asked you if he was a relative, but you would not answer. The supposition that you were being blackmailed was borne out by inquiries made for us by Pinkerton's, which proved that Goldenburg had visited you several times and that he was always in funds after he left you, however low he might be before. I think it is a fair inference."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Quite fair. Grell's face was a little drawn, but he spoke quietly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are quite correct, Mr. Foyle. As you know so much, there can be little harm in enlightening you on that part of the story. I take it that you treat it as confidential."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Unless it becomes necessary to use it for official purposes, as evidence or otherwise, said Thornton before the superintendent could reply."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We cannot give an absolute pledge."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That was the beginning. After that I never had a secure moment unless I was away on an exploring expedition. The moment I reappeared in civilisation my brother would seek me out. He was cunning enough to press me only to the verge of endurance. He could judge exactly how much I would stand. At last, however, I resolved not to yield another penny to his extortions. I cut loose from all my affairs in the United States and came to England. I thought I could fight him when I had reduced the stakes. I found after all that I had increased them, for I met Eileen--Lady Eileen Meredith."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But all her efforts went for nothing. He recognised the value of her co-operation in the circumstances, but would give her no hint of the place where he had concealed the letters. Time drew on. You will know enough of her to recognise Lola as a clever, resolute woman. She made up her mind to accompany Goldenburg to his appointment with me as a last resort. It was to keep that appointment that I left Ralph Fairfield at the club the night before the wedding--the night of the murder."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You did not want any one to know that you were absent from the club, remarked Foyle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That was merely a matter of precaution. I wanted my interview with Goldenburg to be secret. I had given Goldenburg a note which would ensure his being shown to my study and I was purposely a bit late for the appointment. I wanted to give the Princess Petrovska all the opportunities possible. But when I reached there it was clear to me that she had failed. He had not brought the letters with him. I got rid of the woman, and Goldenburg and I quarreled. Then it was that I killed him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And what of the other woman?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What other woman?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The veiled woman who was shown up to you by Ivan."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There was no other woman, said Grell, his lips tightening."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have told you as much as I intend to."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Just as you like. I believe you have told the truth up to a point, Mr. Grell. It is fair to assume that a blackmailer of Goldenburg's calibre would have taken precautions lest you should fail to comply with his demands. Doesn't it appear a fair assumption that he might have taken steps to arrange the presence of the person most interested, next to yourself? He probably never mentioned that he had done so until it was too late for you to stop her. I mean Lady Eileen Meredith."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You liar! raved Grell."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How dare you bring her name into it!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This excitement will not advance matters, said Foyle placidly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sit down for a little, Mr. Grell. You cannot prevent the inevitable."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My dear Mr. Grell, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't want to use the ordinary cant about duty and all the rest of it. We may sympathise with you--personally, I admire the attitude you have taken, though perhaps I shouldn't say it--but our own feelings do not matter the toss of a button. Nothing you can do or say will swerve us from what we judge to be the interests of justice."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Let me alone for a little while, answered Grell dully;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I want to think."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ours is an ungrateful business, Sir Hilary, he grumbled,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Poor chap, he said reflectively."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Poor chap! And then, after an interval,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Poor girl! Couldn't you have dropped a hint, Foyle?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We've got to be more certain yet. I daren't tell him too much--for my idea may prove to be wrong. You must remember that it was undoubtedly Eileen Meredith's finger-prints on the dagger. At present it is only surmise of mine how they got there. Finding the prints on her blotting-pad, which I showed you, corresponded with those on the dagger you gave me, was one of the biggest surprises of my life. But we may clear it up now."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "H'm, said Thornton."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, we shall have to look sharp."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By God! I believe I've got it!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Put me through to the Yard.... Hello! I want Mr. Grant.... That you, Grant?... About the Grosvenor Gardens case. Tell me. Might the finger-prints on the dagger have been caused by some one withdrawing it and replacing it after the murder had been committed? Would the second handling have obliterated first prints?... Blurred them. I see. But if the person who first handled the dagger wore gloves? Thanks. That's what I wanted to know."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That bears out my idea, Sir Hilary. Will you excuse me while I see if Bolt's on the premises?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Just caught him, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I've sent him to collect all the men he can find to make some fresh inquiries."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm a little bewildered, confessed Thornton, jingling some money in his trousers pockets and turning blankly upon the superintendent."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you think you'll be able to do it--to bring this crime home to the Princess Petrovska?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think I can, replied the superintendent."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I was a blind ass not to see it earlier. Lola's alibi--which is proved to be false, if what Grell and Abramovitch say is true--helped to blind me. I was thrown off, too, by the finger-prints on the blotting-pad, which corresponded to those on the dagger, and also to those on the typewritten warning which Ivan sent me. The only plausible motive for Grell's actions, if he was not guilty himself--and that we are fairly certain of--was his desire to shield some one else. There could be only one person for whom he was willing to make such a sacrifice--Lady Eileen Meredith."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, I understand that. But the finger-prints on the warning?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They puzzled me for a while. But that was made clear when I talked to Ivan. He had typed it on the blank half-sheet of a letter given to him by Grell. That letter--it is only an assumption of mine--was one that had been written to Grell by Lady Eileen. That clears that point."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Still, I don't see how you have anything against Lola more than you had before."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There is this. The weak link in the chain of evidence against Lady Eileen Meredith was the lack of motive. That was why I did not have her arrested immediately I found that it was her finger-prints upon the dagger. The strongest point against the Princess is the motive. She was married to Goldenburg, but was not on the best of terms with him. She was bought by Grell to play the part of Delilah to the blackmailer. My theory is this--bear in mind that it is only a theory at the moment. Grell, for some reason, left her alone with Goldenburg in his study. There was a quarrel, and she stabbed him. It must have been all over in a few seconds, and there was no outcry. You will remember that the body was found on a couch in a recess, and you may have noted that curtains could be drawn across to shield it from the rest of the room. Petrovska may have drawn the curtains and slipped away before Grell returned. She is a woman of nerve and would at once set about manufacturing an alibi."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All this is very ingenious, Foyle, remarked Thornton,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is pure surmise, Sir Hilary. Its chief merit is that it fits the facts. Of course, Lady Eileen may be the murderess after all. I am only working out an alternative. To carry it on a bit further. When Lady Eileen came, Ivan showed her up to the room. No one answered his knock. She went in and shut the door after her. It is my idea that there was no one in there when she discovered the dead man. She was dumbfounded at first, and probably the body being in the shade did not permit her to see the face clearly. She placed her hand on the hilt of the dagger, intending to withdraw it, but could not bring herself to use the necessary force."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why didn't she call out? demanded Thornton."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It seems to me----"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then the Princess Petrovska paid her a visit and told her that Grell was not dead but in hiding. There was nothing for it, in default of any explanation, but to revert to the thought that he was the murderer. She went to extreme lengths to help him--even to forgery. She believes him guilty still; he believes her guilty."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But Petrovska?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was coming to that. She is a clever woman. When Grell got in touch with her the following day she may have had many reasons for assisting him. She most likely had a shrewd idea of the situation and resolved to profit by it to avert suspicion. While Grell was suspected she would be safe. But it may have occurred to her that if we laid our hands on him and he told us anything, we might get on her track. Suppose that to be so, it is not difficult to see why she should take a prominent part in assisting him. She would still have a certain amount of money, for he paid her to come to England, and she, as we know, would stand at nothing."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It all sounds very interesting, commented the Assistant Commissioner,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My idea may all tumble to pieces as soon as a test is applied. I can't pretend to be infallible. But we can try. I am going back to Scotland Yard now, sir. It is ten o'clock. I expect to be at it all night. Are you coming back?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, I don't think I can be of any assistance to you. I shall be glad if your theory does come out all right this time. The alternative suspicions are horrible. Good night, Mr. Foyle."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Anything for me, Slack? he asked."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Has Mr. Bolt come in? Ah, there you are, Bolt. Come down to my room."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have seen the manager, a hall-porter and a chamber-maid at the Palatial, sir. They repeat what they said in their statements before. The Princess left the hotel at about ten o'clock. No one can fix the time precisely, but it was certainly not before ten. She made up her mind very suddenly, the manager tells me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thanks very much, Bolt. Stand by in case I want you. Tell Slack if he hears from Mr. Green to ask him to leave things and come up to me."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, it's worth trying,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What is, sir?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah, Green. I was just thinking aloud. Everything all right in Berkeley Square?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Everything quiet, sir."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, things have been happening since I last saw you. I want your opinion. Sit down and listen to this."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I've got faith in your idea, sir, he admitted at last."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's likely to be right as anything. But I am doubtful if we shall be able to get any admission from the Princess."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One never knows, retorted Foyle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She's not under arrest yet--only detained. We're entitled to ask her questions to see if she can clear herself. But our best chance is to take her off her guard. We might go along and wake her out of her sleep now and chance it."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You must dress at once. Some gentlemen are waiting to see you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Waiting to see me? Who are they?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know who they are,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sit down, will you, said Foyle suavely, when the matron had gone, closing the door behind her."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We're sorry to trouble you at this hour, but matters of urgency have arisen."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am quite at your disposal, Mr. Foyle, she said, hiding her uneasiness under an appearance of flippancy."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What do you want?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Green has already explained that you are not under arrest, he said, in a quiet, cold voice."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We are detaining you. Whether you will be the subject of a grave charge depends upon your answers to the questions we shall put to you. You must clearly understand, however, that you are not bound to answer."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That sounds serious, she laughed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Go on, Mr. Foyle. Put your questions."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Very well. Do you still deny that you visited Mr. Grell's house on the night that the murder took place? I think it fair to tell you that we have had statements both from Ivan Abramovitch and Mr. Grell that you were there."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'll not dispute it in the circumstances."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You went there with Harry Goldenburg, your husband, in connection with a scheme of blackmail he had conceived. You were to get certain letters from him for Mr. Grell if you could?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are correct, as usual."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Grell left the room for some reason, and during his absence you had an altercation with Goldenburg."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, no, she said blandly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We were always on the most amicable terms."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you realise, he demanded, and his voice was fierce, almost theatrical in its intensity,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I never left finger-prints, she exclaimed wildly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wore gloves.... Oh, my God!"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That will do, I think, he said in an ordinary tone of voice, as though resuming a dropped conversation."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Have you got that down, Green? Mrs. Goldenburg, --he gave her her real name,--"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That ought to do, Green, said the superintendent, as he strung tape round the discarded bundles."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We'll have the lady brought up at the afternoon sitting of the court. That'll give us time to talk it over with the people from the Treasury. Yes, what is it?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are not well, Lady Eileen, said Foyle, slipping to her side."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Shall I do something?--send for a doctor?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I--I shall be all right in a minute, she gasped. Her throat worked."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wanted to see you, Mr. Foyle. I wanted to tell you--to tell you----"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Drink this, he said sympathetically."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You will feel better afterwards. That's right. Now, you wanted to tell me something."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The paper--this morning! she exclaimed incoherently."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It said--it said----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It said that we had detained a man in Sussex,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It was Mr. Grell?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, it was Mr. Grell."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have made a ghastly mistake, she said, and her voice was level and dull."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mr. Grell had nothing to do with the murder. I killed that man. I have come here to-day to give myself up."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's curious, he said slowly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The third!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, the third. The others are Mr. Robert Grell and the woman you know as the Princess Petrovska, who in our police jargon would be described as alias Lola Rachael, alias Lola Goldenburg. He smiled down at her as she turned her bewildered face towards him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So you see, there is no great need to alarm yourself. The mystery is all but cleared up. If you will permit me, my dear young lady, I should like to congratulate you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But--but----"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I won't deny that if you had told me you killed Harry Goldenburg a day or two ago, I might have believed you, and it might have made things awkward. But there is now no question of that. We know now that it was neither you nor Mr. Grell. If you had told us the real facts at first so far as you were concerned, it would have simplified matters. However, there is no reason why you shouldn't do so now."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I cannot understand,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You will presently. Now, if you don't mind, sit down quietly, and tell me in your own way exactly what happened on the night this man was killed. Take your own time. I shall not interrupt."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You know about the letter? she asked."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The letter I got from Goldenburg."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Assume that I know nothing. Begin at the beginning."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, that was the beginning. I did not know it was from Goldenburg then, for it was unsigned, and both the address and the note itself were in typewriting. It was delivered by an express messenger. It said that the writer had something of importance affecting my future happiness to say to me, and that I could learn what it was by calling at Mr. Grell's house about ten. The writer advised me to keep my visit as secret as possible."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah! What time did you get the note?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am not quite sure. It was about half-past nine or quarter to ten."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Very neatly timed to prevent you making inquiries beforehand. Go on."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then I wanted to scream, to call out for help, but I could not. It was all too terrible--horrible--like a ghastly dream. Gradually my wits and my senses returned to me. It came into my mind like a flash that the letter I had received hinted at blackmail. I could not see the dead man's face."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't be afraid, Lady Eileen. You had found a dead man in Mr. Grell's house--a man whom you suspected of blackmailing your fiancé. You not unnaturally thought that he had been killed by Mr. Grell."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A day or two ago he sent me a note--a mysterious note--saying we were both in danger. I could not understand that part of it, but it was clear he wanted money. I could not get it except by putting my father's name to a cheque. You know all about that. I took a taxicab and arranged to meet him at Putney."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You went to the General Post Office before that,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, I wanted to order a motor-car to meet us at Kingston. I thought it safer to do it from a public-call office so as to leave as little trace as possible. I picked Mr. Grell up at Putney, and gave him the money. Neither of us referred directly to the murder during the journey. He told me that he was making for his place in Sussex, and should there make a plan for getting out of the country. He argued that the less I knew of details the better."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A reasonable feeling, under the circumstances, murmured Foyle. And then, with a smile,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Your finger-prints on the dagger have been partly responsible for a lot of bother, Lady Eileen. If you had followed my advice at first--but it's no use harping on that. You have believed Mr. Grell to be the murderer, I suppose, and made your own confession to shield him. I don't know that I oughtn't to congratulate you both, for he has certainly made enormous sacrifices, and taken enormous risks to shield you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "To shield _me_?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "To shield you. He had at least as much reason--if you'll forgive me saying so--to believe you guilty as you had to think he was a murderer. It was he--if my guess is correct--who opened the door while you were stooping over the murdered man. He must have jumped to the conclusion that you had at that moment killed the man, and took his own way of diverting suspicion from you. That is the only explanation that appears plausible to me."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have sent for Mr. Grell. He will be here shortly. There is still some light that he may be disposed to throw on the affair--now. Meanwhile, if you do not object, I should like to have the statement you have just made put in writing. I will have a shorthand writer in and place this room at your disposal."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Congratulations, Foyle. I hear it's all plain sailing now. Come and tell me all about it."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Petrovska has killed herself, he exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The matron found her poisoned in her cell, a minute or so after I reached Malchester Row. There was poison in one of her rings. She left this letter addressed to you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah! There was no betrayal of astonishment or any other emotion in the superintendent's tone. He fingered the letter carelessly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Won't you sit down, Mr. Grell? No doubt you'll excuse us for a moment. Sit down, Green."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A confession?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes--a confession, he replied."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Shall I read it aloud? His eyes rested for an instant on Robert Grell."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You may care to hear it,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Go on,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This explanation should make the things clear you do not already know,--L.P."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It was she, then, not--not----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not Lady Eileen Meredith, interrupted Foyle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But do you confirm what she says there, Mr. Grell?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She is right in everything she says about me, he admitted."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I did think--God forgive me!--that my own eyes were right. I believed that Eileen had killed that man. That it was influenced me in everything I did. Till this moment, I had no idea---- He wheeled almost angrily on Green."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why didn't you say why you brought me here?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My instructions were to bring you here--not to give explanations."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I thought it best that you should learn all there was to know at your leisure, interjected Foyle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of course, we knew nothing of this --he tapped the confession as he spoke--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It has been an unpleasant business for all of us, he said urbanely,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, I think I am at least entitled to that,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "As you like, gentlemen. You once complained, Sir Hilary, that I talked like a detective out of a book. This kind of thing makes me feel like one--except that, in this case, I cannot claim much credit. I only used common sense and perseverance."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Let us have it,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Previously, the time of the murder had been fixed by Professor Harding as between ten and twelve. It was our business to find out who had been with Harry Goldenburg at that time. Among those persons was the guilty one."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I can't see how that helped you at all,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The first attempt to communicate with Fairfield failed, not through the working of any miracle on our part, but by patient watching. I stole a note from Fairfield, which gave us something to act upon, in the East End. Remember, the immediate object of our search was Robert Grell--not necessarily for the murderer. Do you follow?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think I do, answered Grell."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You wanted, at least, an explanation from me."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We deciphered the message, and it enabled us to discover your hiding-place on the river. But the business was muddled, and you got away. We found the sheath of the knife used in the murder among other belongings you left behind. By the way, we understand that that dagger had belonged to Harry Goldenburg--how came it to be lying about your room?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That is a mistake. The dagger was mine. It is possible that he had a similar one."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Meanwhile, Pinkerton's had been hard at work on the other side of the Atlantic, and many episodes of your private life were minutely examined. Their detectives it was, too, who had discovered that Goldenburg and Petrovska had in some way been associated with you. What they found out pointed to blackmail. Here appeared an adequate motive for you to murder Goldenburg."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Your clumsy attempts to take the guilt on yourself made me more sure than ever of your innocence. This morning we laid a trap for Lola. She was suddenly aroused out of her sleep, and I surprised her into what amounted to an admission of guilt."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I rather believe that I have made a fool of myself, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have done a great deal more than you adopt credit for. I cannot thank you now, but later--I suppose I am at liberty now. I must see Ei--Lady Eileen at once."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You will have to give evidence at the inquest, said Thornton."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That is all. The step this woman has taken will save us all a great deal of trouble. Of course, what Mr. Foyle has told you is entirely confidential."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of course."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lady Eileen is here, if you would care to see her now, said Foyle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Will you come with me?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Here you are,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "from which the story takes its name was a tall tree that stood in solitary splendor on a mountain top. The fame of the pine lured a young engineer through Kentucky to catch the trail, and when he finally climbed to its shelter he found not only the pine but the _foot-prints of a girl_. And the girl proved to be lovely, piquant, and the trail of these girlish foot-prints led the young engineer a madder chase than"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Kingdom Come."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Chad. the"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Blight. Two impetuous young Southerners' fall under the spell of"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The Blight's"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hell fer-Sartain"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Harvester, David Langston, is a man of the woods and fields, who draws his living from the prodigal hand of Mother Nature herself. If the book had nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man, with his sure grip on life, his superb optimism, and his almost miraculous knowledge of nature secrets, it would be notable. But when the Girl comes to his"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Medicine Woods,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Angel"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A Spinner in the Sun"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Cremona."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A Gentleman of Leisure,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good-evening, Mr. Quinney!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Good-evening!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My lad."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "So, Old Joe is dead, and Young Joe reigns in his stead?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Right you are,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Left you everything? continued the burly man. Quinney nodded, and after a pause the other continued huskily:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Old Joe had something snug to leave—hey?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Right again,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "More’n you thought for, I’ll be bound?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Maybe."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, my boy, hold on to it—as he did. It’s a damned sight easier to make money than to keep it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I made some of it,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not much."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Young Joe, he reflected,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Quinney’s. The shutters were up—stout oak boards sadly in need of a coat of paint. Quinney opened a side door, and entered his own house—his—his! He could think of nothing else. Quinney’s, and all it contained, belonged to him. Immediately after the funeral, when the house was full of people, the young man was dazed. And when the will was opened, and he learned that Old Joe had saved nearly ten thousand pounds, he felt positively giddy, replying vaguely to discreet whispers of congratulation with jerky sentences such as"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By Gum, this is a surprise! or, with nervous twitchings of the mouth and eyes,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Rum go, isn’t it, that I should be rich?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes; I am Quinney’s."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Gosh! I’m jolly glad that I gave him a tip-top funeral. He’d have pinched something awful over mine."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Genuine Antiques."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sorry to disturb you, Joe, on such a sad occasion."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "snapped joe."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You know as well as I do that the old man gave me a hell of a time. Now he’s gone, and that’s all there is about it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I came about them, Tomlin indicated the china."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Last thing your pore father wrote to me about."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nice bits, eh?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How much?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They’re not for sale."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I should say that I’m keepin’ ’em for a party I know."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Anything else to show me? grunted Tomlin, caressing the Bow glaze with a dirty but loving finger."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Your father mentioned a mirror-black jar, K’ang He period."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Keepin’ that too,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sold it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not yet."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then what’s up? Ain’t my money as good as the next man’s?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you want a plain answer, Mr. Tomlin, it ain’t—to me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ho! What d’ye mean?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Just that. It don’t pay to deal with the trade. If I pick up a good thing, you get the credit; you claim all the credit. Our name is never mentioned, not a line. In this town we have the reputation of selling rubbish. I’m going to change all that."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Are you? Tomlin was visibly impressed and distressed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, look ye here, take my advice, and walk in the old man’s footsteps. He done well."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I shall do better."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you want to buy any of this, he waved a contemptuous hand,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Rubbish!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Just so."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ho! That’s the game, is it? As Quinney nodded, he continued:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Me and you can do business together."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Together?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I say—together. How would a trip abroad suit you?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A trip—abroad?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "To France. I’ve heard of a man in Brittany—a wonder. His line is old oak; mostly copies of famous pieces. He’s the greatest faker in the world, and an artist. No blunders! Would you like to go into a deal with me? You know old oak when you see it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think so."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You go over there and buy five hundred pounds’ worth and put it into this shop, after you’ve cleared out the rubbish. I’ll go halves. It’s a dead cert, and this is the right place for the stuff. My pitch wouldn’t do, and I haven’t the room. I’ll send you customers."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s a go,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You mean to make things hum? And I can help you. Never gave you credit for being so sharp."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Never could persuade the old man that the ’Genuine Antiques’ card was a dead give-away."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You’re yer father without any moss on you, he remarked, as he took his leave, promising to return on the morrow. Upon the threshold he asked,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Doin’ anything particular this evening?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You ought to have a sign."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I mean to."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thought of that already?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thousands and thousands o’ times. It’ll be a hangin’ sign of wrought-iron; the best; painted black, with ’Quinney’s’ in gold. It’ll cost twenty pounds."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That’s going it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I mean to go it."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Never expected to see you this evening, Mr. Quinney."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’m tired of doing the things that are expected, was the surprising reply. Then, with a flush, he blurted out,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Susan in?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Mrs. Biddlecombe, leading the way into the parlour."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The child’s upstairs."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s all right. You smooth your hair, dear, and slip on your blue gown."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The funeral was well attended,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The old man was hardly what one might call popular,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He’ll be missed in Melchester."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Missed, but not regretted,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I ain’t here to talk about him. Less said on that subject the better. I’m my own master now, ma’am, able to please myself. Lord! How he hated my coming here!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know, I know!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Never appreciated Susan, neither. Dessay you think I ought to be at home, mourning. Well, he knocked all that out o’ me long ago. Plain talk is best. As a matter of business, with an eye on some of our customers in this stoopid old town, I shall do what is expected in the way of a tombstone, and I shall try not to sing and dance in High Street, but between you and me it’s a riddance."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’ve been through it, Mr. Quinney."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You’ve had the doose of a time, ma’am—and a born lady, too."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are you thinking of leaving Melchester?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not yet, although I am goin’ abroad."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Abroad?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "To France, ma’am."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You need a holiday, to be sure."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s business. I’m after old oak. Want to work up a connection—hey?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you speak French?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Me? Do I speak Chocktaw? Do I speak English properly? Do I, now? O’ course you parleyvoo like a native?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not quite, Mr. Quinney."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And Susie—you learned her French, and the pi-anner?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I did my best."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Angels can do no more, said Quinney admiringly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Upset yer neighbours, too."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lord bless you, I know all about that. You pinched to get that piano, he indicated an ancient instrument,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s perfectly true."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Gracious!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Give us yer blessin’,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Settled between us three months ago, he explained fluently."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We dassen’t tell a soul, not even you, because of the old man. He was capable of leavin’ every bob to an orsepital for dogs. He said to me once, ’Don’t let me hear anything of goings on between you and that there Biddlecombe girl!’ By Gum, I obeyed him! He never did hear anything. Me and Susie took jolly good care o’ that. I only hope as he knows now."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Joe, dear, please don’t!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I hated not to tell you, whispered Susan,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The old ’un told me I might look high with my prospects, but he never did know quality. Quantity was what he’d go for. Lord! How he fairly wallowed in job lots! Well, all that’s over."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Quinney’s."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Isn’t Susie going to help? she asked."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why not ’Quinneys’?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By Gum, you’re right. Of course she’s going to help. Make a rare saleswoman, too."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I should love to help! said Susan eagerly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You’d soon teach me, Joe."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All the tricks in the trade, Susie, and perhaps one or two of our own."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Must there be tricks?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bless your innocent heart—yes! Dessay I shall learn a bit from you. Course o’ Shakespeare now, to improve one’s powers o’ speech."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We’re semi-detached, you know."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’m rich enough not to care what Laburnum Row thinks or says, he declared."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What day will suit you to get married, Susie?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, Joe—this is sudden."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sudden? I was tellin’ your mother that I had to go to France on biz, but I want you to come along, too, to do the parleyvooin’. Can you get ready in a month?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You must wait longer than that."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s customary."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Blow that! I want Susie, and while we’re in France the shop can be overhauled. You’ll keep an eye on it—hey?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wash my hands of any marriage entered upon in undue haste."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But I shall order the sign to-morrow—’Quinneys’’—with letters cuddling up against each other. It’ll be made in London, quite regardless. Next Sunday and you, Susie, will take a little walk in and about Melchester. I shan’t ask you to pig it over the shop."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I shouldn’t mind that a bit."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But I should. I’m marrying a lady, one of the best, and I’ll start the thing in style, just bang up."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A semi-detached?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Lord, no! Wouldn’t hurt your mother’s feelin’s for worlds, but a semi-detached ain’t private enough for me. The neighbours might hear me yellin’ when Susie pulls my hair."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’m going to open a bottle of my ginger cordial,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, Susie, you jump on my knee. I want to tell you that I’m the happiest man on earth."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Please—don’t! And to this he replied tempestuously,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sue, darling, you like it; you know you like it. What’s the use of trying to flimflam me?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hammocks?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "On Sunday, said Susan,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By Gum! You have ideas, Sue."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mother always said I was too romantic."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I love it already,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "More than you love me?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’ve drunk my Joe’s blood,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, you jolly cannibal!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I believe this’ll do? and she answered ecstatically,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s exactly right."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There may be others better still; it’s only the best we’ve seen so far."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I dare say you think there’s a better girl than I am somewhere or other?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, I don’t!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How awful it would be if I caught you looking for her."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No fear o’ that!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bird-nestin’, we are,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Just so. Did you like the nest you saw yesterday?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s too sweet for anything!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is there anything else on your books prettier than this cottage? She shuffled impatiently, when the agent answered impassively,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh yes!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where is this other cottage?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "On the Mel, five minutes’ walk from your place. It belongs to the widow of an artist, and it’s a real bargain. You ought to see it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We will see it,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come on, Sue,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You ain’t tired?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tired? Not a bit, but I’m sure that our cottage is the prettier."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Please suspend judgment,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This looks all right, but what’s wrong with it? Why hasn’t it been gobbled up long ago?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There is something wrong with it—the price."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I guessed as much."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s not big enough for well-to-do folk; and it’s much too expensive for poor people. It cost quite a lot of money. There’s a boathouse, and fishing rights and everything is in tip-top order. So it’s not surprising that the price is tip-top also. But it’s a genuine bargain."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How much?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Let us go,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "At a great pennyworth pause awhile; many are ruined by buying bargains. Moreover, the first cottage was to be had at a modest rent. Number two was not offered on lease; the owner wanted spot cash for the freehold. Before the lovers parted, Susan whispered,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I do wish we had not seen that cottage by the Mel. It’s made me hate the other."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s a dream cottage. I shall think of it as that, and pretend that it doesn’t really exist. I may go there sometimes when I’m asleep."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You must look a little dear when you’re asleep!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, Joe, you do say such odd things."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We’ll look at some other cottages."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I shall be perfectly happy with you anywhere—except in that first cottage."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One of these fine days you’ll live in a big house in London."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I mean it. You make a note of what I say. This old town is well enough, but it ain’t big enough for me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Joe, you do surprise me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bless you, dear heart! I surprise myself. I’m a smallish man, as inches count, but I’m simply bustin’ with big ideas. I surprised Tomlin, too."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don’t like Mr. Tomlin."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, why not?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He looks so sly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He’s foxy, very. Has to be. A London dealer must be sharper than his customers. The big collectors, the chaps that write thumpin’ cheques are no fools, and some of them are knaves. I could tell you stories——"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Please don’t, dear."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why not?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don’t want to listen to unpleasant stories now; and besides, mother is expecting me. It’s washing day."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hate the thought of my Sue at the wash tub!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I like doing things, and getting them done properly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By Gum, you seem to forget you’re a lady born."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’m only half and half, Joe. It will be a real pride to me getting up your shirts."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There’ll be none o’ that, my girl."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How horrid of you to bring me here, she whispered."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I hate the sight of it now."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But why? Queer things girls are, to be sure."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If it’s queer not to stare at what one can’t have, I’m queer, said the young lady rather shortly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was never one to flatten my nose against the window of a hat-shop when I’d no money to buy hats."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You’re a sensible little dear! But I brought you here because the place is sold. I knew that would cure you. Now oughtn’t we to have a squint at the first?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It would make me squint to look at it now."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s nicer than a tent."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A tent?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You said you would live happily in a tent with me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Men don’t understand women."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That’s a horrid thought with our two lives to live out together."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, Joe, it is really my fault because I did disguise my disappointment very cleverly, didn’t I?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Disguise it? Bless your simple heart! I saw two fat tears rolling down your cheeks. I was the one who disguised my disappointment."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Desperate diseases require desperate remedies. Now that we’re here, we’ll go in, and I’ll let it soak in that the place is really and truly sold. Quinney nodded, and Miss Biddlecombe continued fluently,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "After I’ve seen it once more I shall never give it another thought."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don’t be too cocksure about that!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I tell you I shan’t, and besides, the river is certainly dangerous."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dangerous to us?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I expect the house is damp in winter."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dry as a bone. I asked about that."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "When did you ask?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I suppose when we looked at it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I never heard you ask. I’m feeling quite happy about it now. I wonder whether the people who have bought it have moved in?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The agent told me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "When?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "When I wrote to him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why did you write to him?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "To make inquiries about other cottages, of course."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Cosy, ain’t it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are you so tremendously sorry that this lovely place is sold?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’m tremendously glad,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can’t screw myself up to say that, Joe. I wonder who is coming to live here?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A childless couple."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A childless couple! Her face softened."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’m sorry they’re childless. I can see children running about this garden."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And tumbling into the river!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I was only joking about that. But perhaps——"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Exactly. They may have a dozen yet."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We can’t keep your poor mother waiting for dinner."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bother dinner. I want to have a long, last lingering look."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But you may come again, because you happen to know the man who has bought it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Joe! she exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s you!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes; it’s me. Now ain’t I a regular old rag-bag o’ surprises?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You’ve taken cold,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That rot would make any man choke, said Quinney."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Makes me perfectly sick, he continued, warming to his work, as he encountered the amazed stare of the women,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s written by a lady, observed Mrs. Biddlecombe,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s written by a fool! snapped Quinney."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We’ve Solomon’s word for it that there’s nothing so irksome as a female fool. This particular brand o’ fool don’t know, and never will know, the very first principles o’ furnishing, whether for rich or poor. Buy good solid stuff. Don’t touch rubbish! Rubbish is beastly. Rubbish is wicked. I’ve had enough of rubbish. Me and Susan is going to start right. And as for cost, he paused to deliver a slashing blow,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’m going to put one thousand pounds’ worth of stuff into my house!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Perhaps more, he added flamboyantly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don’t be blasphemous, Joseph!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Blasphemous? he repeated derisively."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s blasphemy to my notion to prefer ugliness to beauty. Suppose I’d done as father wanted me to do, and got engaged to that ugly laughin’ hyena, Arabella Pinker, because she had something in her stocking besides a leg like a bed-post."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now you are indelicate, isn’t he, Susan?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I chose Susan instead of Bella. Blasphemous! Now, tell me, what do you go to the Cathedral for?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "To worship my Maker."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, I’m going to be honest with you and Sue. I go to the Cathedral to look at the roof, the finest bit of stonework in the kingdom. My thoughts just soar up into that vaulting. I feel like a bird o’ Paradise. Our Cathedral is God’s House, and no mistake. My mind can’t grapple with Him, but it gets to close grips with that fan vaulting, which He must have designed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Never heard you talk like this before,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Gawd rather than"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "God,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’ve had to bottle up things, said Quinney grimly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now I’m free to speak my mind, and you’re free too, my girl. Hooray, for plain speech! Lawsy, how it hurts a poor devil to hold his tongue!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ever seen the Saloon at Mel Court?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Never, Joe."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s furnished just right according to my ideas. I want to have furniture of that sort. Georgian—hey? We’ll go there together, when the family are in town. In that Saloon I feel as I do in the Cathedral—reg’lar saint! It’s spiffin’! And every bit of the period. Not all English—that don’t matter. The china will make your mouth fairly water, the finest Oriental! Pictures, too, but of course we can’t touch them yet."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Joe, dear, shall I fetch you a glass of barley water?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Barley water? Not for Joe! I’ve thought of that, too, my pretty. I’m going to have a cellar. None o’ your cheap poisons! Sound port and old brown sherry, in cut-glass decanters!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sue, dear, it’s not surprisin’ that I surprise you, because, as I told you before, I surprise myself. I lie awake nights wondering at the ideas that come into my head. I suppose the old man was such an example——"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "An example, Joe?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of how not to do things! Lawsy, what a wriggler, to be sure, twisting and turning in the dark, and disliking the light. Wouldn’t clean our windows, because he didn’t want our customers to see the fakes too plainly. We just pigged it. You know that? Yes. I had to make a flannel shirt last a fortnight. Same way with food. Cheap meat, badly cooked. Stunted my growth, it did, but not my mind. I used to spend my time thinking what I’d do when I got out of Melchester."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Out of Melchester?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah, Pinker, why don’t you belong to us? the honest fellow replied,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s this way, my lord. The Conservative gentry deal with me because I know my business. The Radicals buy from me because I’m a Radical. They’d sooner deal with the Stores than with a Tory grocer."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have my eye on London, Paris, and New York."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mercy me!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Meanwhile, Melchester is good enough. But our house must be a show place—see?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I shall take some of our customers to our house, to show them the things they can’t have. I mean, of course, the things they can’t have except at a big price. Nothing bothers a collector so much as that. Your real connoisseur —Quinney had not yet mastered the pronunciation of this word—"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, Joe, mother and I were so looking forward to furnishing the Dream Cottage."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know, I know! He began to skate swiftly over the thin ice."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But your ideas, sweetie, are so—so semi-detached. You haven’t got the instinct for the right stuff. I have. You and your mother want to stir up Laburnum Row. I’m a-going to make the whole of Melchester sit up and howl. See?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’ll leave the kitchen and the bedrooms to you, but, remember, no rubbish."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "as he expressed it, before. And it was humiliating to reflect that his small Susan could confront without a qualm wild waves when he lay prostrate, limp in mind and body, capable only of cursing Tomlin, who had dispatched him upon this perilous enterprise. He was not too well pleased when Susan kissed his clammy brow and whispered,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, Joe, I do love to look after you."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Would it be wicked, Joe, to kneel down here?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you want to?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ye-es."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, then, do it. You ain’t going to pray to that?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh no! she answered; then she added, with a blush,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I only want to thank God that we are here—together."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Right you are! said Joe heartily, but he did not offer to kneel with her. She moved from him slowly, with a backward glance, which escaped his notice, and knelt behind a pillar, covering her face with her hands, wondering at first what her mother would say if she could see her, and almost tremblingly glad that she couldn’t. Oddly enough, when she began to pray it never occurred to her to use the old familiar forms. She thanked God because He had made her happy; she entreated a continuance of that happiness in her own artless words, words she might have used to her mother. When her prayer was ended, she became conscious of the strange intimacy of her invocation. She felt a glow, although a minute previously the lower temperature of the Cathedral after the warm sunshine without had struck her chillingly. When she rose from her knees, her eyes were shining. She returned to her husband, who said:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Regular mix-up we have here. Let’s skin out of it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Look you, madame, it is good, when one is young and strong and happy, to look sometimes at these _misérables_."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If theirs be the right, condemn us. If ours be the right, condemn them. For this is the patron saint of lawyers, and of the poor oppressed by the law. The procession of _Misérables_ followed. An Englishman told the tale of the Miracle of the Soup to Susan. He described vividly a farm hard by filled with outcasts upon the eve of the Pardon. And so bitter had been the weather that the farmer had made small provision for his guests, assured that only a few would demand his hospitality. The _pot-au-feu_ hung upon its hook, but there was hardly soup enough in it to feed half a dozen, and scores were arriving. And then suddenly a stranger appeared, approached the hearth, and affirmed that there would be enough for all. Having said this, he vanished, and, lo, a miracle! The crowds were abundantly fed. The stranger was the Saint himself, the blessed Yves. Susan was thrilled, but Joe whispered to her,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you believe that yarn, Sue? and she whispered back,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes. He squeezed her arm as he replied,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lawsy, you are a blessed little fool!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What do you make of this show?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They recognize that the poor must be always with them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How does this apply to you and me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We must help when we can, dear."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We have to help, Sue. Rates and taxes. By Gum, I’ve never seen such a lot of wretched devils in all my life. And the sight o’ their misery just hits a particular nail of mine bang on the head. Drives it home, like. Me and you must never be poor. We must pull together against the remotest chance o’ poverty."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They can’t help it, Joe."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Perhaps not, but we can."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’ve powers within me, he explained, over a matutinal pipe."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They push me on—see?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Pushed you across the Channel?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Just so. Beastly crossin’—humiliatin’. Felt like a scoured worm!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That’ll do, Joe."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nearly did ’do’ for me. The wife —he liked this expression, having heard Pinker use it—"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It would have been just lovely, Susan admitted,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hadn’t ’ad his bloomin’ head in a basin. No, I ain’t going to say another word. Disgusting about fits it. Well, I was saying it was something stronger than meself drove me out of good old England."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Tomlin, put in Susan. She added for the benefit of the stranger,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He’s a big London dealer."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tomlin ain’t stronger than me, Susan. He’s bigger in the trade, that’s all, and come to his full growth, too. I’m sorter speak sproutin’. Do you know Tomlin, of the Fulham Road?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh yes."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tomlin told me about this faker of old oak."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But he’s not a faker. Really, you must purge your mind of that. He’s an artist. Dealers, of course, buy his reproductions and sell them again as authentic antiques, but he sells them at a moderate price for what they are—superb copies. They are so masterly in every detail that you won’t know the copy from the original when you see both together."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, won’t I? said Quinney."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’ve a lot to learn, and I’m learning something every day, but old oak is my hobby. I’ve handled it since I was a baby, and I shall know."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We’ll see, said Le Marchant, smiling."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What did you think of the Pardon yesterday?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Rum show! Very—French, hey? Praying hard all the morning didn’t prevent ’em from getting jolly tight in the afternoon."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "These are Bretons, Mr. Quinney. Celts, not Latins."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ain’t we wastin’ valuable time?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Vous voyez, madame, je ne cache pas mon jeu, moi."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What’s he sayin’?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He assures us that he’s not a faker."
}
]
|
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