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| title
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|---|---|---|---|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Glad to take you round, Mr. Lark."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am told that you do not sell to dealers."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That’s as may be. I want to build up a business with private customers."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Quite right. My own methods."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Wonderful, isn’t it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You mean to sell first-class copies as such?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes. I guarantee what I sell, Mr. Lark, as—as you do."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don’t sell fakes."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not necessary in your case. Will you come upstairs?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "With pleasure."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I want you to look at this, Mr. Lark."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Bless me! Is that the commode which you bought in Melshire?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is. What do you think of it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why isn’t it downstairs with the others?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The others?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By the side of that piece of tapestry."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s the best bit I have,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Surely not. I have bought such tapestry as yours before. I will admit that I paid a big figure for it. We dealers are sadly done sometimes. This commode is quite as good in its way as the Gobelins, but it ought not to be next that cabinet."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you mean to tell me, Mr. Lark, that you call it a fake?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A fake—no. A copy admirably executed—yes."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, Lord!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I may be mistaken. I am often mistaken."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Even I. Come, come, I see that I have upset you. But, as a friend, as a brother dealer, I say this: Get rid of it. You are taking up a line of your own. You mean to sell honest copies as such, and to guarantee the genuine bits. A capital idea. Only don’t mix up the two. To succeed in London it is necessary to establish a reputation. My eldest son tells me that you built up a substantial business in Melchester—that your reputation there was above reproach. Excellent! I rejoiced to hear it. In our business we want men like you. But, no compromise! Sell that commode for what it is, a fine copy executed at the end of the eighteenth century. As such it has a considerable value. I have a customer, an American gentleman, who would buy it to-morrow for what it is, and pay a handsome figure."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What do you call a handsome figure, Mr. Lark?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Five or six hundred."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And I paid nine!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, well!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is that scale-blue for sale?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "At a price, Mr. Lark. I have had it for three years. I’m waiting for a customer who will give me two hundred pounds, not a penny less."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Two hundred pounds? And you won’t sell to the dealers who have customers who write such big cheques. Now, look here, Mr. Quinney, I am sorry for you. I know how you feel, because I have made, I repeat, sad and costly blunders myself. You don’t ask enough for that scale-blue."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not enough?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I could sell that set for three hundred this afternoon. To prove that I am not boasting I will offer you two hundred guineas, cash on the nail."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Done! said Quinney. He added excitedly:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’m much obliged, Mr. Lark. I wish you could send me the American gentleman."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Come, come, isn’t that asking too much?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I beg pardon, of course it is, but what am I to do about that commode?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I repeat—sell it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You know that I haven’t a dog’s chance of selling it now. Don’t flimflam me, Mr. Lark! You’re too big a man, too good a sort. You’ve treated me handsomely over that scale-blue. Now help me out of this hole, if you can."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I never haggle with dealers, Mr. Quinney, and I don’t want that commode; but, to oblige you, I’ll give you five hundred for it, and chance making a hundred profit."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Make it six hundred, Mr. Lark."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I repeat—I never haggle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Damn it! I must cut a loss."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Always the wise thing to do. My offer holds good for twenty-four hours. Isn’t Tomlin a friend of yours?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We’ve had many dealings together."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He might pay more."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not he. I’ll accept your offer, Mr. Lark, with many thanks. I’ll not forget this."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Cries"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Joe, dear, you are wonderful!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s a gamble if you go for big things. Buying that commode was a gamble. You can’t escape from it. That’s what makes it interesting. Win a tidy bit here, lose a tidy bit there, and it’s all the same a hundred years hence."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Farming’s gambling—a mug’s game! Sooner put my money on to a horse than into the ground! Marriage! The biggest gamble of all! You struck a winner, my lad—I didn’t."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I suppose, said Quinney, staring hard at Tomlin,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, I do, when I get a gilt-edged tip."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Race-horses?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Stock Exchange. Customers tell me things. I’m fairly in the know, I am. Make a little bit, lose a little bit! It binges me up when I feel blue."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’d like to get back a slice o’ that lost four hundred quid."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Maybe I can help you to do it. A customer of mine is in the Kaffir Market."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Kaffir Market! What’s that?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you ain’t as innocent as Moses in the bulrushes! African Mines, you greenhorn! He tells me of things. Never let me down—not once. He says a boom is just due."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you risk much, Tom?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lord bless you, no! I buy a few likely shares on margin, and carry ’em over. A man must have some excitement."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Quinney thoughtfully,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I told you so."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is my card, said the stranger."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I shall be happy to give you a banker’s reference."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I must go to Inverness to-night, he said regretfully."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My factor has wired for me about the letting of a forest of mine. Take this money on account of expenses, go to Dorchester, do yourself well—there is an excellent inn there, and a few bottles left of some ’68 port. To-morrow there will be a sale at a small auction mart in the town. This picture will be offered. Here’s a photograph of it. Buy it for me. In three days I shall be back in town."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What am I to bid for the picture, Major?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’ll go to fifteen hundred. I shouldn’t be furious if you paid a hundred more. Wire to Loch Tarvie! Bye-bye!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thruster, and no error!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nothing to interest you, Mr. Quinney."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Perhaps not. I’ll have a squint round as I am here."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I had a gentleman staring at that picture this morning. You’re after the frame, I dare say."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Might look quite different if it was cleaned, said the auctioneer."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The other fellow did that with his handkerchief and a small bottle of stuff he carried in his pocket. I didn’t like to object. Colour comes out nicely!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Who does it belong to?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A stranger to me. I take everything as it comes. I’m in a small way of business, as you know, Mr. Quinney; but some nice stuff has passed through my hands."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If I really knew. Suppose it’s a gift. You have it, Mr. Quinney. I have a sort of general knowledge of values, but it’s the special knowledge that picks up the big bargains."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One hundred and twenty-five,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One hundred and fifty,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are the famous dealer, Joseph Quinney?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I expected to get that picture for a hundred pounds. You have fairly outbidden me, and I could not bid a farthing more to-day; but will you kindly tell me what you will take for your bargain?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sorry, said Quinney;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There is no more to be said,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "by scores of newspapers. And salt was rubbed into his wounds by the reporters whose sympathy seemed to lie with the two scoundrels who had devised so clever a scheme, and escaped with the swag! There was a cruel headline:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A Biter Bit."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Whom have I bit?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nice sort of fool you’ve married! A mug of mugs! You was right. Ought to have remained in Melchester! Ought to have remained in swaddling clothes! Ought never to have been born!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nice sort of father you’ve got! Look at him! Why didn’t you choose somebody else, hey? Picked a wrong’un, you did!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Gracious! Isn’t this a rainy afternoon!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not fit to cross the road without a policeman. Time I advertised for a nurse or a keeper!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are you thinking of going back to Melchester?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My lord, I couldn’t face Pinker, and Mrs. Biddlecombe would cackle and nag at me till I wrung her neck. She wrote to Susan to say that she was sorry to hear that the Lord had seen fit to afflict me grievously. In her heart she’s glad."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You don’t blame the Lord?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I blame myself. I’ve been a silly daw, strutting about like a peacock. I wanted a fight, and I’ve had it; but I can’t go back to Melchester. I must stick it out here, win or lose, customers or no customers. If the worst comes to the worst, I can sell to dealers. It means slavery."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But you have some customers?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Very few—the wrong sort. Mostly women, who don’t value their own time or mine. They look at my stuff, and call it ’rather nice’; they try to pick up a few wrinkles about glass and porcelain, and then they drift out, promising to call again."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We must try to alter this."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It does me good to see your lordship’s face again."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You’ve had a dose. Perhaps your system needed it. Pay my respects to Mrs. Quinney, and tell her not to worry."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Lord Mel’s been in. Sent his respects to you. You’re not to worry—see?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am not worrying much, Joe. Nobody escapes hard times."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "His lordship has faith in me. He ain’t offended. Just the same as ever. I told him everything—more than I told you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "More than you told me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I lost a few hundreds dabbling in mines. All that foolishness is over and done with. I mean to stick to what I know, and the people I know who’ll stick to me. I shall give my undivided attention to business. I mean to work harder than ever, so as to win back what I’ve lost."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How much have you lost, dear?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’m not speakin’ of money, Susie. I’ve lost my self-respect, and I don’t stand with you just where I did."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You do—you know you do!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know I don’t. You ain’t suffering from a crick in the neck along of lookin’ up at me. I ain’t been soaring lately. Wriggling like a crushed worm about fits me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Joe, dear, you’ve never quite understood me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hey?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I married you for better or worse."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Lawsy! It never entered into your pretty head that it could be for worse?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I should love you just the same if it were."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, no, that ain’t sense, Susie. It won’t wash. You loved me because I was Joe Quinney—a feller with ambitions, a worker, a man with brains in his head. If I failed you, I should expect you to despise me. I should feel that I’d had you under false pretences."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have a lot to learn yet, Joe, about persons."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good stuff to lay down,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can you tell me why one breed of dog noses out truffles?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What are you going to do with them?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You’ll see,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bar none, it’s the best copy I ever saw,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Seems a lot,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He was earning twenty-five bob. I shall turn him loose on those spinets."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Stock booming?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is, said Quinney. He added reflectively:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I sold a spinet to-day, for which I gave fifteen shillings, for just the same number o’ pounds. James put in just one week on it. That’s all, by Gum!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They tell others, he observed to Susan."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No ’ad.’ can beat that."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bless ’em! It warms their hearts to think they’ve made a sound investment."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How surprised and disappointed you’d be, Joe, if they accepted your offer!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Right you are, Susie; but there’s little fear of that, my girl."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where is Mr. Quinney?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’m Quinney. Like to have a look round? You may see something you fancy."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That’s a nice pie-crust table."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s a gem. Cheap, too."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where’s the receipted bill for this table?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "See? Paid four pounds seventeen for it, just five weeks ago. Look at the date. You shall have it for six pounds, and, by Gum! I’ll make you this offer. You can return it to me any day you like within a year, and I’ll give you five pound ten for it. How’s that, as between man and man?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "and the"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Look at that, madam, he would say. Perhaps the lady would murmur softly:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is rather nice, isn’t it? And the flapper would exclaim enthusiastically:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mumsie, it’s perfectly lovely!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Much more than that! Quinney would add, with mysterious chucklings."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "See that rose? It’s a Stuart rose. And that crown on the front splat is an emblem of loyalty to the Merry Monarch."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Dear me! You hear that, Kitty!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Pay particular attention to the legs, ladies. Ball and paw, the lion’s paw, with hair above them, indicatin’ the strength of the Constitootion after the Restoration. Chapter of English history, that chair."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The men had a good time, but the women’s lives must have been deadly. I’m jolly glad that I’m a twen-center! She continued fluently:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You have a rotten time, mummie."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My dear!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But you do. I couldn’t stick your life!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I want all the fun I can get. What fun have you had? You sew a lot, you read aloud to me, you take me to school—although I’m quite able to go alone—you order the meals, you are father’s slave."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I won’t have you say that!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But it’s true."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I love your father. I married for love. I am happy and contented in my own home. I have no patience with these new-fangled notions about women’s rights and women’s wrongs."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ethel says——"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don’t wish to hear what Ethel says. Fun, indeed! Why, child, I’ve had you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Was that fun? She spoke seriously, fixing her mother with a pair of clear, grey eyes."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Some girls love dolls. Dolls rather bored me. Is it fun to mess about with a baby, wash it and dress it, and take it out in a pram? I call hockey fun."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You’ll lose a front tooth some fine day. That will be great fun."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let’s be perfectly calm. I love talking things out. You don’t. I mean to say you try to hide your real self from me. Didn’t you think and talk as I do when you were a girl?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Most certainly not!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are an old-fashioned darling, and I love you for it! I shouldn’t like you to talk as Mrs. Honeybun does. She says you and father spoil me. I wonder if that’s true. She gives Ethel beans sometimes, and Ethel answers back as if they were equals. It would give Granny a fit to hear her!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hope you’re enjoying yourself, my dear!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’m not,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why not?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Because you’ve been so wonnerful peevish."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bless my soul, what next! Well, well, you are a pert little maid, but I must try to be more agreeable."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I dare say, she murmured,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Spare no expense,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How’s my pet this morning?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Quite all right, daddy, thank you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Gettin’ on nicely with your lessons?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh yes."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Daddy pank a Posy too hard."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Posy had a healthy appetite not to be satisfied with nut cutlets or vegetable pie badly cooked and served at odd hours. No servant stayed long with the Honeybuns, because the remains of cold"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "pie were expected to be consumed at"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Your friend, Mrs. Honeybun, seemingly, manages everything and everybody except her own house and her own servants."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The spiritual food in that house is simply wonderful!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s deadly dull at Melchester, mummie, and just think what a privilege it is, what an opportunity to spend a fortnight with Ethel’s mother."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of course, you will go to your grandmother, and I shall expect you to be charming to the old lady. In the nature of things, you can’t pay her many more visits. Make this one a fragrant and imperishable memory. Express what is your true self by your devotion to an aged and apparently irritable grandmother."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "had been accomplished—what Quinney called a"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "His mind naturally was concentrated upon filling the gaps in the sanctuary with other gems of even purer ray serene. Posy confided to Ethel that at such moments her daddy"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The temptation to make a swanker"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "under the process described in Lavender Gardens as"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Daddy, dear, when are you going to retire from active business?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Retire from—business?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Haven’t you made enough?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ho! Now, what do you call enough, my girl?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Haven’t we enough to live on decently, and something to spare for others?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We? His voice took a sharper inflection."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How much have you laid by, missie?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You know what I mean."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don’t. What I’ve made is mine—my very own. I can do what I like with it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, father!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, father! He mimicked her cleverly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you have the sauce to sit there and tell me, your father, that what I’ve made isn’t mine?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are a trustee for what you hold, accountable for every penny."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Accountable—to you?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Accountable to Society and God."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ho! Then suppose you leave me, my young chick, to account in my own way to Society and God?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am part of Society, and I am part of what we call, for want of a better word, God."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That will do, Posy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, it won’t! shouted Quinney."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We’ll have this out here and now. What d’ye mean? What the devil d’ye mean? Are you dotty? Why do you spring this on me? What’s the game? ’Ave you been a-listening to blasphemous agitators a-spoutin’ rubbish in ’Yde Park?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then where does she get it from? He appealed to Susan with frantic gestures."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You hear her, mother. Where does she get this from? Answer me!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Such talk is in the air, Joe,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In the air! By Gum! she’s been breathing the wrong air. Inspiration gripped and shook him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Gosh! You got this from that dirty Socialist, Honeybun. Don’t deny it! These are his notions. But I never thought he’d poison your young mind with ’em."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Honeybun is the best man I know. He practises what he preaches; he lives in and for others. He uses his talents, regardless of his own comfort and worldly prosperity, to ameliorate the lot of the poor and oppressed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Poor and oppressed! Ameliorate! What a talker! Now, look ye here, young Posy, I’m going to deal squarely by you. I’m square to the four winds of Heaven, I am! You and I have got to understand each other—see? You’re as green as the grass, but you do ’ave some of my brains. I ain’t a-goin’ to argue with you for one minute. Don’t think it! I’ve forgotten more than you ever knew. Talk is the cheapest thing in London, but knaves like Honeybun buy fools with it. Don’t you toss your head! You’ve made your pore dear mother cry, and you’ve taken away father’s appetite. A nice morning’s work. Now, listen! No more Honeybunning! You hear me?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Everybody in the house can hear you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "More sauce! You stand up, miss!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Take off that rubbish!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ethel gave them to me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Take ’em off quick! Mother, you see to it that she wears respectable collars!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Them beads, said Quinney, who reverted to the diction of his youth when excited,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What shall I do with her, my lord?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I prescribe a change of diet, my dear fellow. We must both face the disconcerting fact that girls to-day need special treatment. Mrs. Honeybun is one of the Shrieking Sisterhood. I have heard her shriek—she does it effectively. Noise appeals to the very young. I suggest removing Posy from Orchard Street, and sending her to a carefully conducted boarding school, where plenty of fresh air and exercise will soon blow these ideas out of her pretty head. There are dozens of such schools scattered along our south coast."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Send her away from me and her mother?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Drastic, I admit, but you have put it admirably. ’No more Honeybunning!’ Keep her in London, and she may Honeybun on the sly. Will you entrust this little matter of finding a suitable school to me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Your lordship is a real friend."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I will speak to my lady."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Expense don’t matter, said Quinney earnestly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I want my daughter to have the best, because, my lord, as a young feller, I had the worst. No education at all! Posy’s a wonderful talker! She’d have downed me this morning if I’d let her. She talks like—like——"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Like Honeybun, eh?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If I wasn’t sittin’ in your lordship’s library, I should damn that dirty dog!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Such fellows thrive on abuse. That is their weapon. We must use others—ridicule, for example. How old is your girl?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nearly sixteen."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Good! You have nipped a cankered bud in time. You shall hear from me within twenty-four hours, Let me show you an interesting bit of Crown Derby _bisque_. He paused, and added derisively:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You know, Quinney, there are moments when my things appeal to me tremendously. Persons are disappointing, but every day I discover fresh beauties in my china cabinets."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Same here,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Does he worship these false gods? Would he miss that cabinet more than he would miss me?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You will earn a bigger salary, Mabel, and Mr. Quinney won’t make love to you."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "James Miggott will show you round. If you want to know anything, go to him. Don’t ask me foolish questions, because that makes me lose my hair; and I ain’t got any to lose that way. See?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Certainly, sir."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dessay he’ll tell you where you can get a plate of roast beef in the middle of the day, between one and two. You have an hour off then. What did Mrs. Frankland allow you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Forty minutes."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Just so. You’ll find me easy to get along with, if you do your duty. James will tell you that I’m a remarkable man. I call him James, and I shall call you Mabel. It saves time, and time’s money. You can scoot off with James."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "of high degree appealed to him quite as strongly as, let us say, a desperately injured sprig of nobility, battered to bits in a motor accident, may appeal to the skill and patience of a famous surgeon. When Quinney found a genuine Chippendale chair _in articulo mortis_, he could sit down and weep beside it. To restore it to health and beauty became a labour of love, almost a duty. He had not, of course, the technical skill for such work; and he had not found any cabinet-maker who was absolutely the equal of the Minihy man till he discovered James Miggott. The first important task assigned to James was the mending of an elaborately carved Chippendale settee, a museum piece. James threw his heart and his head into the job; and, within the year, that settee was sold at Christopher’s, after examination by experts, as an untouched and perfect specimen. Quinney was no party to this fraud, for the settee had never belonged to him, but it opened his eyes to the possibilities of patching"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And every week he was being offered these"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The finest specimens, by the best craftsmen, are rare; the full sets of eight incomparable chairs, for instance, come but seldom into the open market. But the"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Joe, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do what trick?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Any trick, I take it, known to our trade. The very finest faker of old furniture I ever came across. Now, as between man and man, are you going to make a right and proper use of him?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What d’ye mean, Tom?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tchah! You know well enough what I mean. Why beat about the bush with an old friend? Are you going to turn this young man loose amongst that old stuff you’ve collected?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Am I going to let James Miggott fake up all that old stuff? No, by Gum! No!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, damn it! Why not?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Several reasons. One’ll do. I’ve sworn solemn not to sell fakes unless they’re labelled as such."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of all the silly rot——"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There it is."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’ve a proposition to make, said Tomlin."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You’ve got a small gold mine in this Miggott, but you don’t mean to work him properly. Well, let me do it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Suppose I send you ’cripples’ to be mended. Any objections to that?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "None."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This young Miggott mends ’em, and puts in his best licks on ’em too. Then you send ’em back to me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That all?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you want to know any more? Is it your business to inquire what becomes of the stuff after you’ve doctored it? And, mind you, I shall pay high for the doctorin’. You leave that to me. You won’t be disappointed with my cheques."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "with the Londoners who had"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My poppet, you’re a perfect lady; yes, you are."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Daddy, how funny you are!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Funny? Me? I don’t feel funny, my pretty, when I look at you. I feel proud. One way and t’other I suppose you’ve cost me nigh upon four thousand pounds!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Daddy, dear! Not as much as that, surely?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I figure it out in this way, he said slowly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In hard cash you stand me in about fifteen hundred spread over the last ten years. Now, if I’d stuffed that amount into Waterford glass, I could have cleaned up five thousand at least. See?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I see,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The question now is, continued Quinney, absorbed in admiration of her delicate colouring,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Father! exclaimed Susan."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do please try to remember that you’re not talking to Mr. Tomlin."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "When I feel strongly, replied Quinney simply,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I just have to use strong language. Posy has come home to what?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She’s come home, Joe. That’s enough. Why bother about anything else?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Because I’m the bothering sort, old dear—that’s why. I look ahead. I count my chickens before they’re hatched."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, you made sure that this chicken was going to be hatched a boy."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don’t bother about me, daddy; I’m all right."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By Gum, you are! That’s why I bother. In my experience it’s the right bits that get smashed!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lay not up treasures upon earth! At Bexhill-on-Sea Posy had heard this same injunction upon the lips of a local Chrysostom, to whom she listened enthusiastically every Sunday morning. The text had a personal application, because she never heard it, or a variant on it, without thinking of the sanctuary and her father’s"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "apostrophized by Susan as"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "James is a power in this house."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, dear; your father thinks the world of him. He is a very good young man."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good? Now what do you mean by that?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Gracious! I hope you haven’t inherited father’s trick of asking questions."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is James pious?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Pious? He goes to church; he does his duty; he is to be trusted; he’s a hard worker, and from what your father tells me, a real artist."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "An artist? Does he work for the love of his work?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think he does."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My mother is dead."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Did you love her very much? and the other laughed, actually laughed, as she replied:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Love her? She was all I had in the world!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Make the world a pleasanter place for others, and you will find it more pleasant for yourselves. The girls at Posy’s school indulged in mild chaff over this dictum. Sweet seventeen admonished blushing sixteen to"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Be a sunbeam! Another catchword in frequent use was:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Save a smile for mother!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She described the process as"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are you thinking of cutting me? she asked, holding out her hand."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What an extraordinary coincidence your being here?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is it? asked James quietly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have been to Weymouth before, have you?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No; this is our first visit. Did father tell you we were coming?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No. He laughed derisively, as he continued,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Quinney does not talk to me about you. I can imagine that he might—er—object——"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Object to what?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "To this. I know my place, Miss Quinney."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now that you are here, said Posy,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Jolly, isn’t it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Very."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But you don’t look jolly, Mr. Miggott. You never do look very jolly. And I have wondered—why."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Shall I tell you? he asked, in a voice that trembled oddly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Shall I let myself go for once? Ought I?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes; please tell me."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don’t look jolly, Miss Quinney, because I don’t feel jolly. Perhaps you think that a man ought to disguise his feelings when he’s with a charming young lady. Well, I can’t. I’m too honest. It was a shock just now meeting you, because you stand for everything I want and can’t get."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am your father’s foreman, and I earn three pounds a week. Lark and Bundy, Tomlin, any of the big dealers would pay me five pounds a week, but I can’t leave Soho Square."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’m sure father couldn’t spare you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am useful to him. I’m not such a fool as to underrate my services. He is generous. He will raise my salary, but I shall remain downstairs. I repeat, I know my place. I am fully aware that I ought not to be talking to you like this. Mr. Quinney would be angry."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Really, that is absurd."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you know your father as well as I know him?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Perhaps not, but there’s nothing of the snob about daddy; he never pretends to be better than he is. He rose from the ranks, and he’s proud of it. I’m proud of it. I admire men who rise. I have no use for slackers who owe everything to others. Why shouldn’t you rise higher than father? You are better educated and a greater artist."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What! You have thought of me as an artist?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have been told that you are an artist. Father says so, and Mr. Tomlin. It interested me enormously. You love your work for your work’s sake. That is fine. And yet you tell me that you are unhappy, that it gives you a shock to meet me, because I stand for everything you want and can’t get. What do you want?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Freedom for one thing."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mustn’t freedom be earned? I have been taught so. You are serving, I suppose, your apprenticeship. The work you love may be a small part of that, and the rest drudgery. I used to loathe playing scales, but I tried to be jolly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Your position is assured."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If you’re the right sort, yours will be."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can’t you see how interested I am?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are divinely kind. I can’t express what your sympathy means to me. Well, you spoke of my rising. That’s just where the shoe pinches. I have not risen; I have fallen."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Fallen from—what?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My people were gentlepeople."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My father was an officer in the Army. (It was true that James’s father had once held a second lieutenant’s commission in the Militia.)"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My mother was the daughter of a West Country parson. They died when I was a boy. There was practically nothing for me. I was educated at a charitable institution. Charity apprenticed me to a cabinet-maker at Exeter. Charity nearly buried me—twice. I have known what it is, Miss Quinney, to be without food, and without money, and to wake morning after morning wishing that I had died in the night!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I see that I have distressed you, and I am very sorry; but you asked me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I, too, am sorry, said Posy earnestly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am most awfully sorry. I wish I could say the right thing, but I feel rather a fool."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The right thing for me to say, Miss Quinney, is good-bye. I shall go to Lulworth this afternoon."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But why should you go? I don’t understand. Are you going on our account?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "On my own."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You know best."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, mummie, daddy couldn’t object to our being decently civil to Mr. Miggott?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He might."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But why—why?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Father is so ambitious for you, child. Any gallivanting about with his foreman——"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Gallivanting! Who spoke of gallivanting? Mr. Miggott is a gentleman. You like him and respect him. So do I. The word ’gallivanting’ sounds so housemaidy, so merry-go-roundy."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, well, my dear, I’m glad the young man has gone, that’s all."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good-afternoon, Miss Quinney!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’ve a job for you, my girl."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Certainly, daddy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’m going to turn over to you the dusting of my china, and the cleaning of the Waterford glass. You used to do it nicely before you went to boarding-school."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I shall just love it."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You must teach me values, daddy."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By Gum, I will. You’ll learn, too, mighty quick. Did the girls at your school ever throw it up to you that you was a tradesman’s daughter?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, I told them that you were the honestest dealer in England."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So I am, my pretty, the honestest in the world. It pays to be honest."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That’s not why you’re honest?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, missie, it ain’t. I swore solemn never to sell fakes except as such the night you was born."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What a funny time to choose!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Funny? Never could make out why people use that word in such a silly way. Funny? Your dear mother nearly died the night you came to us."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, Joe, you ain’t going into that, are you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, I am. Why not? It’s high time, speakin’ of values, that young Posy should know just what she cost us. I say it’s part of her education, the part she couldn’t learn at school. She’s eighteen. She knows, I take it, that she didn’t drop from heaven into the middle of a gooseberry bush?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are quite right, father. I ought to know what I’ve cost both of you. She looked at her mother tenderly, and spoke in a softer voice:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is it true that you nearly died?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And so did I,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I shall always remember that,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The covers are perfectly beautiful, said Quinney,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you think, my lad, I’d ask you to waste your time and talents tinkering with those? Rip off the covers carefully, and put them aside. Save the nails and the backing. Don’t show ’em to anybody. They need cleaning, but I shan’t send ’em to a reg’lar cleaner’s. You can try your hand on ’em."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not much in my line,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Liver out o’ whack this morning?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not that I’m aware of."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, try to look more cheerful. It pays."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Got something to show you,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Got something to show _you_,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The finest set of old needlework chair-covers I’ve seen for many a long day."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That beats the band! he exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Looks as if it was fairly meant."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What d’ye mean, Tom?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You come along with me, and see."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Look at them chairs, Joe."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nice lot—hey?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And a nice price Bundy paid for ’em. You wasn’t at Christopher’s the day before yesterday?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By Gum! Tom, you don’t mean to say that those are the Pevensey chairs?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, bang out of Pevensey Court, sold with Chippendale’s receipt for ’em. Sixteen hundred guineas, my tulip!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s a cruel price."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They’re the goods, Joe. Hall-marked! Bundy can place ’em at a big profit with Dupont Jordan. Did you notice the carving?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Did I? Never saw a finer set, never!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come out of our way a bit, haven’t we?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wanted you to have a squint at those chairs first. Here we are."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thunder and Mars!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thought you’d be surprised,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where are the other four?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where? Oh, where?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Them four came out of Ireland. I paid fifty pound for ’em."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You do have the devil’s own luck, Tom."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not so fast. I can’t find out anything about them. If I tried to sell ’em, as they are, Lark would see to it that fellows like Pressland crabbed ’em, as he did that commode o’ yours."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "With luck, continued Tomlin thoughtfully,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I might sell these chairs for fifty apiece. One is an armchair. Your covers would go nicely on ’em, eh?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By Gum, the very thing."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And you’ve eight covers?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Eight of the best."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let’s have a look at the covers,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dev’lish fine gal! said Tomlin."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Glad to see she’s not above helpin’ in the business."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don’t want her help!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Didn’t I tell you not to show them covers to nobody?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sorry, replied James carelessly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I supposed Miss Quinney would be considered an exception. He added, with mild derision,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She took no interest in the covers at all."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She saw them?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Possibly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They’re a bit of all right,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Look ye here, young woman, I don’t want you nosin’ about downstairs. See?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I thought I could go where I liked in our own house."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s my house. See? You run along to mother like a good girl."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bit short with her, wasn’t you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do her good. I won’t have no _tête-à-têtin’_ between her and James Miggott."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s all right, Tom: I only smoke the best in this room."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Must admit, Joe, that you know a bit about most things. Come on surprisingly, you have."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’ve a proposition to lay before you, Joe."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Go ahead."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Whatever are you up to, old man?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My women, he remarked pensively,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And you dare to think that——?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Tch! Tch! Nothing like making cocksure. What I have to say is not for other ears. Now, ain’t it a pity that we haven’t eight o’ them Chippendale chairs on which we could fit them eight fine covers?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Pity? It’s a sinful shame."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Almost a dooty we owe to society to turn them four into eight?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hey?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "James could do it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are you mad, Tom? We know what James can do. I ain’t denyin’ that he’s a wonder, but he can’t copy them chairs so that you and I, not to mention the rest of ’em, wouldn’t know the difference if the new four was shoved alongside o’ the old four."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Right!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then what the ’ell are you at?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I propose this, he said deliberately."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "James can make eight chairs out of them four by breaking up the four, half and half, half of the old in each."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Um!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If the worst came to the worst, continued Tomlin,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Um!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A set of eight chairs, slightly restored, with your covers on ’em, the dead spit of the Pevensey chairs, would excite attention?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "More than we might want. I don’t see Bundy a biddin’ for our set without askin’ a lot of questions. He’d spot the repairs."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Right again. I put these questions, Joe, to have the pleasure of hearin’ you answer them as I would myself. In a sort o’ friendly fashion I look upon you, my boy, as my pupil."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Go on!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you want to get back some o’ your hard-earned savings which you lost over that commode?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, I do."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Follow me close. James goes to work on the quiet with my chairs; he works alone in my room back o’ Wardour Street; he puts your covers on; and then we pass judgment on the completed set. If we’re satisfied, really satisfied, I don’t think we need to worry much about Bundy and Pressland. Lark—thank the Lord!—is losin’ his eyesight. When the chairs have passed our examination, they’ll go to Christopher’s. You can leave all that to me. Nobody will know that you and I have ever seen the chairs."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nobody? How about James?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Exactly. James must be squared. It’s time you raised his salary. I shall make him a handsome present. Remember, you’ll lend James to me for this little job. It don’t concern you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You take James for a fool?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not me. James is a bit of a knave, but he knows which side his bread is buttered. If he was a fool I wouldn’t touch him with a bargepole. I’m afraid o’ fools. Now, we’ve got the chairs to Christopher’s, and we’ll choose a small day for the sale, some day when the big men are elsewhere."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then who’ll bid for ’em?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Me and you, my lad."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Bid for our own chairs? Pay a thumpin’ commission to find ’em on our hands? Funny business!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Joe, you ain’t quite as sharp as I thought you was. We two, and anybody else as likes, bid for the chairs. We bid up to nine hundred pounds. Christopher’s commission would be ninety o’ that. The chairs cost me fifty. What do you value them covers at?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Five-and-twenty—thirty."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Call it thirty. Put James’s work at another thirty. That makes a round two hundred quid. What have we got to show for that? A set of eight chairs which have fetched nine hundred pounds at Christopher’s, with Christopher’s receipt to prove that the money was paid down for ’em. Christopher returns that nine hundred, less their com., to my agent, that is to us. You see to it that the buyin’ of the chairs by you is properly paragraphed. You have them on exhibition in this very room, and I bring a customer to whom you show Christopher’s receipt. Everything square and simple. My customer offers you eleven hundred. We share and share alike just nine hundred pounds. Four hundred and fifty each. No risks!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Um!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You think it over. Take your time."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don’t like it!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I call it a perfectly legitimate transaction."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Come off it, Tom!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are you thinkin’ o’ your inside or your outside? Yer skin or yer conscience? If it’s conscience——"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well——?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’ll make this remark. One way and t’other I’ve paid you more than a thousand pounds for ’restoration’ work done by James Miggott during the past four years or more. Don’t forget that! So long!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Old Tomlin, hoary-headed sinner, went to Blackpool for the last week-end, and he didn’t go alone, nor with Mrs. T., neither. He’s a moral idiot is Tom. What would you say, Susie, if I went larkin’ off to Brighton with Mabel Dredge—hey?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Joe, dear, it would break my heart."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Gosh, I believe it would. Well, mother, your loving heart won’t be broken that way."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’m a good hubby, said Quinney complacently,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You don’t seem bustin’ with joy and gladness. Four quid a week ain’t to be sneezed at."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don’t I earn it, sir?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You leave the rest to me,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good-morning,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good-morning, Mr. Miggott!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Good-morning, Miss—Posy!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What will father say?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Darling, you must let me deal with your father."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think so. I am sure of it. We must be patient and very, very careful."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I should like to tell mother."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, no! Believe me that would be a blunder. She would tell him. For the moment we must love secretly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It does sound exciting and romantic. Of course you know best."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I do! he replied grimly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know that I shall have to fight for you. I mean to fight. You’ll see. But we must be extra careful. A look——! We can write to each other."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Can we? Father always deals out the letters. He would think nothing of opening mine if he suspected."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have a plan."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What! You have made plans? You were sure of me?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, no! Never sure. Torn in two, I was, between hope and fear, but I made plans all the same. Look here, we can use that lac cabinet as a pillar-box."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Father’s precious cabinet?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He never opens it; the drawers are empty; the key is in the lock."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Pop your letters into that. Then lock the cabinet and hide the key in the mirror-black bottle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What a splendid idea!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Isn’t it? If he misses the key, you will be asked to find it, and you will find it. Then we can choose another pillar-box. You will post your letters, dearest, in the morning, when you are dusting here. In the middle of the day, while you are lunching, I shall get your letter and post one of my own. That way we run no risks at all."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are quite wonderful!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thought I heard you talking just before I came in,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I was asking Jim through the tube where father was."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Your dear father would be very much displeased if he heard you speaking of James Miggott as Jim. It’s too familiar."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’m not going to bandy words with you, Posy, because you do get the best of me, thanks to your fine schooling."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mumsie, dear, don’t rub that in. I’m fed up with such vain repetitions from father. I didn’t ask him to send me to an expensive boarding-school. I believe he did it to annoy the Tomlins."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dear heart, what things you do say, to be sure! You were sent to Bexhill because there was too much Honeybunning. But it did annoy the Tomlins. I remember when your grandmother bought a small piano for me. We lived in a semi-detached. How the neighbours did tear their hair with envy and jealousy."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Rub the lacquer gently, child. Coax the polish back."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Right O,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Your poor father thinks the world of that cabinet."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "So do I,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you? That’s your father cropping out in you. I’m beginning to believe that he prefers things to persons; so you’d better be warned in time. The beauty of this world ain’t to be found in sticks or stones."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Cheer up, mumsie! I shan’t devote my young life to either a stick or a stone."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Quinney is out, Miss Dredge."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know. The chairs from Christopher’s have just come."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’m dying to see them."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mr. Quinney left orders that they were to be brought up here."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Very good, said Susan."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Tell Mr. Miggott to bring them up."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, madam."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You don’t look very well, Miss Dredge."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am perfectly well, thank you, madam."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Crossed in love, I dare say."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Poor dear, I hope not."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Six months ago I did think that she and James Miggott might make a match of it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why shouldn’t they? Very suitable, I’m sure."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh yes, Posy murmured hastily. Changing the subject briskly, she went on:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If the Christopher chairs are to be placed in this room, I suppose that father means to keep them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Till he gets a big price."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Fancy paying nine hundred pounds for those!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They’re simply lovely, ’said Posy. She stroked the needlework and glanced at James’s impassive face."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s funny, but there’s something familiar about them to me. I must have seen them before."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Quite impossible, said James."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They came out of an old house in Ireland. They’re almost replicas of the famous Pevensey set, which Lark and Bundy bought."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It’s the needlework I seem to recognize."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Bother the needlework!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, mumsie, what is it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It worries me to see you kneeling and gloating over stupid old furniture, that’s all. Here’s your father coming. Good-looking young fellow with him, too. Much better worth looking at than them chairs."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Father is swanking,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They’re here,"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where did you think I thought they was?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Want us out of the way?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Certainly not. Isn’t this your drawing-room, old dear?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Fiddle!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’ll ask my wife if I can show you her room."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "was downstairs. From beginning to end the little comedy about to be played had been rehearsed between Tomlin and Quinney. Tomlin had found Hunsaker and introduced Quinney to him, as the proud owner of the chairs which he, Tomlin, had wanted to secure. Tomlin had said sorrowfully:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They’re just what you’re after, Mr. Hunsaker, but this Quinney, queer little cuss!—bought ’em, I do believe, for himself. He won’t part with his very best things. He’s quite potty about it!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Shall I tell you, Miss Quinney, how that great and growing town came to be called by my name?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Please."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, most of the towns and villages in New Mexico used to be called after the names of saints and saintesses. When it came to christening this particular village the boys wanted to name it San Clement, but my father was of opinion that we were fed up with saints, so he said: ’Hold hard, why not call this little burg by the name of a sinner!’ And, the drinks were on the old man, for then and there they called it Hunsaker."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Was your father a sinner?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He was a tough old nut when up against the wrong crowd. Ah! the chairs!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Elegant!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have here, Mr. Quinney, an incomparable reservation."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, Quinney replied, with equal gravity,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He pointed to the lacquer cabinet, purposely distracting the young man’s attention from the chairs."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now a cabinet like that makes me think of heaven. I can say my prayers to it!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Joe, how you do go on!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, my dear, I go on and _up_! We’d be stewin’ in our own juice in a silly old sleepy town if it hadn’t been for me. On and—up! What a motter for a Christmas cracker! Married the right woman, too, a perfect lady!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Joe—please!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I chose her —he pointed at Susan, who blushed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And the result, he pointed at Posy, who did not blush,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You bet it does, said Hunsaker."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Miss Quinney is by all odds the most precious object in this wonderful room—the gem, if I may say so, of your remarkable collection."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Just like a bit of Chelsea, Mr. Hunsaker. The real soft paste, and as good as she’s pretty; the apple of her father’s eye. Plays the pianner and the mandoline! Sings like a canary!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Father! Please!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You won’t keep her long, sir."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not if there are any spry young men about."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’m going to hang on tight to my little girl. She is the gem of my collection. Cost me more than money, too. He sank his voice confidentially."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nearly cost me her pore dear mother. By Gum! I remember swearing that I’d give up selling imitation oak as the real stuff, if my old Dutch pulled through."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And did you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I did. More, I tore up a big card that used to live in our front window—’_Genuine Antiques!_’ Yes; never sold faked stuff after that, unless labelled as such. Lordy! I’m wastin’ your valuable time."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not at all."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Posy, show Mr. Hunsaker that case o’ miniatures. I’ve a Samuel Cooper, two Englehearts, a Plimer, and half a dozen Cosways."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know nothing about miniatures. There’s a daisy of a china cabinet!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is. Delighted to show you stuff, Mr. Hunsaker. You’ve the collector’s eye. Take a squint at those blue and white jars on the mantelpiece."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’d sooner look at your chairs."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You can look, at anything you like, Mr. Hunsaker, but I understood from Mr. Tomlin that you had all the mahogany you wanted."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "More than I want, replied Hunsaker grimly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’ve been much imposed upon, Mr. Quinney, with mahogany."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dear, dear! I’ve been done, too—crisp as a biscuit! Everybody’s done, hey?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’m never done twice by the same man. He bent down to examine the carving of the chairs."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "These are immense—the finest I’ve ever seen."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By Gum! I wish you could have seen the settee which I sold to the Grand Duke of Roosia."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The papers report you as having paid nine hundred pounds for the set."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That’s right! I’d had two glasses of old brown sherry after lunch. My tip to all and sundry is: Buy before lunch, unless you’re a blooming vegetarian and teetotaler."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Would you take a handsome profit on these chairs?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You look at that lac cabinet, and you won’t want to buy chairs."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "On a Charles the Second stand, added Quinney."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The inside is as beautiful as the outside—more so. I’ll show it to you. Where’s the key?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where’s the key?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I saw it yesterday,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can you see it now, missie? Is it on the floor?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Please don’t trouble. Is that screen Chinese?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes; incised lacquer. They wanted that for the South Kensington Museum. Hits you bang in the eye, don’t it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You’ll find Quinney a character. What he tells you is right is right! That’s how he’s built up a thumping big business."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’m much obliged; it’s an education to see such treasures."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The only education I’ve had, Mr. Hunsaker."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I only wish that I could tempt you to part with one of them—this cabinet, for instance."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It’s not for sale. I’d like to oblige you. Is there anything else you particularly fancy?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I like that black and gold jar."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Um! It’s not bad, but there ought to be two of ’em."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’d like the chairs best of all. You bought them yesterday for nine hundred. Will you take eleven hundred?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Quinney,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I will."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You can have this, Mr. Hunsaker. Don’t destroy it! Keep it in your safe."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Christopher’s receipt for my cheque. It proves that the chairs fetched the price named at public auction."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thank you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And now, to sweeten our first deal, I’ll make you a little present. You fancied that K’ang He bottle. It’s yours."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Shall I go and clean it, father?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Clean it? It’s as clean as you are, my pretty."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are very generous,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Biz! There are other things downstairs, Mr. Hunsaker. Are you buying these chairs for yourself?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, certainly. Have them cased, please, and consigned to my agents in New York, who will see them through the Custom House. Any marks on that jar, Mr. Quinney?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don’t think so; they never marked them bottles. It’s marked all over."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The missing key, said Quinney."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now what fool stuffed it in there?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Like to see the inside?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Father, dear, Mr. Hunsaker may have other engagements."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have, said Hunsaker."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Important ones, too. Thank you, Miss Quinney. He turned to her father."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "May I call to-morrow at eleven, and have another look round?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Glad to see you any time."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This has been a very pleasant and informal visit, Mrs. Quinney. Do you ever go to the play?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sometimes,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Often,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Will you three nice people dine and do a play with me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You must leave me out,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We shall be delighted, Mr. Hunsaker."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He’s taken a shine to our girl, Susie."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Fiddle!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Stoopid expression! You must break yourself of that. I tell you it’s true. Couldn’t ask for nothing better. Fine upstanding young chap."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A foreigner!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nonsense. They could spend half their time over here. You might give the child a hint. Tell her to play up."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What an idea!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have ideas, Susie. We can’t expect to keep her; and the best in this country won’t marry a tradesman’s daughter. He’s as good as any in his country. See?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I see a large mare’s nest,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come you here, my girl. He took her head between his hands, and gazed at her proudly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Did that young fellow squeeze your hand just now?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Father!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "None o’ your sauce! Did he?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, yes, he did."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You’ve got a daddy with ambitions, a kind, loving, clever old daddy! Lordy! Sometimes I fair wonder at myself, I do. Because I’ve climbed so high. But you’re a-going higher—bang up! Good looks, I’ll admit you got them from mother, and good brains, same as mine. Quick wits, God bless you! You made a hit with young Hunsaker! A bull’s-eye! Now scoot, both of you! I’ve a lot of business."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I haven’t finished dusting, daddy."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, you have, when I say so. Scoot!"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’ve sold the chairs, James. Take ’em away. Pack ’em up at once! Nail down the cases. See?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, sir. I congratulate you, sir."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Pack up extra carefully that K’ang He bottle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The K’ang He bottle?"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The key of the cabinet was in that bottle. Did you put it there?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I may have done so, he replied. He went on fluently:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The key fits badly, tumbles out of the lock sometimes. I meant to tell you."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nice profit for you, sir,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not bad,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Splendid idea, sir, buying in your own stuff."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Christopher’s receipt just clinched matters. You ought to have been here, my lad. An object lesson for you, by Gum!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nobody like you, sir, to sell stuff."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Right you are, James, even if I do say it. There ain’t my superior in London—that means the world."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh yes, sir. And such a father, too."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Always done my duty, my lad. That’s a thought to stick to one’s ribs—hey? Never can remember the day when I couldn’t say that. And the fam’ly, as I read only t’other day, is the unit o’ national life. Square, too, I’ve been, within reasonable limits, although I do make ignorance pay a profit to knowledge. I know a lot, more’n you think for. And you owe a lot to me, James."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, sir."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You’re very useful to me, my lad, and your future will be my special care."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thank you, sir."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You’ll be thinking of gettin’ married one of these fine days?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have thought of it, sir."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good! What you want is a helpmate, a worker like yourself, strong, healthy, and comely."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Strong, healthy, and comely,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One who’ll work hard in your house, while you’re working hard in mine. There are young fellows in your position, my lad, who make fools o’ theirselves by falling in love with young ladies. Useless creatures! It would hurt me to see you doin’ that, James."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’m sure it would. Much obliged, sir."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not at all. Never so happy as when I’m thinking for others."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "To my own Blue Bird."
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Susan!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Send your mother to me! he said stiffly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I want to see her at once on a small matter of business."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Right O!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Gracious, Joe, is this house afire?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No. I am. Shut the door."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Whatever is the matter?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Listen. I found this in the lacquer cabinet five minutes ago. It’s in Posy’s writin’. And it’s addressed ’To my own Blue Bird.’"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, dear! Oh, dear!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don’t make them stoopid noises. They sound like a mind out of whack. Sit tight! I’m a-going to read this precious letter bang through, a letter written by your daughter."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My daughter? Ain’t she yours, too?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I’m beginning to doubt it. He read aloud,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Who is her Blue Bird, Joe?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We’ll come to that soon enough. I may mention that there was a play called ’The Blue Bird’! to which you took Posy twice, and you jawed for three days of nothing else. A damn blue bird, accordin’ to you, stands for happiness—hey?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Go on, dear!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I’m going on if you’ll kindly stop wigglin’ your leg. I’m going bang to the outside edge of this. Pay partic’lar attention. ’It was splendidly clever of you to think of using that silly old cabinet as a pillar box, and the fact that we are corresponding under the nose of father makes the whole affair deliriously exciting and romantic. I should like to see his funny face——’ Is my face funny? Is it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not now, Joe. Is there any more?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is there any more, Mrs. Ask-Another? D’ye think a girl educated at no expense spared ends a sentence in the middle of it? Keep that leg still, and I’ll finish. ’I should like to see his funny face if he could read this.’"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She shall see it, by Gum! ’We’ve got to be most awfully careful, because if he caught me talking to you except about his dull old business he would simply chatter with rage. But we must have a long talk together, and as soon as possible. Why not to-night? Father and mother are always fast asleep by eleven. At half-past eleven to the minute I shall slip down to the sanctuary. You be ready downstairs. I’ll whistle softly through the tube; then you nip up, and we’ll have a perfectly lovely talk. Your own POSY.’"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Joe, who is her Blue Bird?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He’ll be black and blue when I’ve man-handled him. It’s that dog, James Miggott."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Joe, dear, James is much bigger than you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "After all these years o’ church goin’ I thought you believed that Right was stronger than Might. Has it all soaked in? Did you mark that word ’dull’ applied to my business? Do you know what the contents o’ this room would fetch at Christopher’s, if the right men were biddin’?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Indeed, indeed, I don’t."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nobody knows what my collection would fetch. The Quinney Collection! S’pose I leave everything to the nation—hey?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "cove, a rather sullen hireling, who earned four quid a week! Had his child been born and educated"
}
]
|
50596 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What are you going to do, Joe?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Watch on, and see."
}
]
|
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