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| title
stringclasses 1
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listlengths 1
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|---|---|---|---|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Bale-Corphew, ma'am, she murmured, as Enid looked at her."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I told him you were not at home; but he said he would wait till whenever he could see you, it didn't matter how long."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, how stupid of you! she cried, tremulously."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You know I can't see him. You know I won't see him. Tell him I'm out--ill--anything you can think of--"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Forgive me! he exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know this must seem unpardonable; but the occasion is without precedent. May I speak with you alone?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Certainly, if you have anything to say."
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mrs. Witcherley! he cried,"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is it? she cried, involuntarily."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What is it? Something has happened?"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Outrage! Outrage and sacrilege! he cried."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We have been duped--deceived--tricked. We, the Chosen--the Elect!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Duped? Deceived? She echoed the words, faintly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What do you mean? What has happened?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Everything! Everything! Again he threw out his hands."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This man that we have called Prophet--this man that we have bent the knee to--he is nothing; nothing--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nothing?"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "An impostor! he cried, again."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A liar! A blasphemer!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Stop! Stop!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You must hear! he cried."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is ordained. You have been the unwitting instrument by which the man has fallen."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I? I? The instrument?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, you! He stepped to her side."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Without you, suspicion would never have been aroused. Without you, he might have carried out his base designs. It was the power of the Unseen that guided me on the day I entered the Presence Room and found you alone with him."
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Did you see nothing strange in that Audience? he demanded."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Did you see nothing strange in the fact that he--a Prophet of Sublime Mysteries--should hold your hand, as any man of the earth might hold it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No! No! she said, sharply."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I--saw nothing strange. He was the Prophet."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah! he said, slowly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I believe you. But, if _you_ were blind, _I_ saw."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I saw. And from that hour the man was lost."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Lost?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, lost. He laughed excitedly; and to Enid the laugh sounded singularly unpleasant, sharp, and cruel."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "From that day we have watched him--we, the Six. We have watched him and his friend--the dog who has dared to desecrate the name of Precursor. We have watched them night and day; we have seen them, listened to them hour after hour, while they believed themselves unobserved--?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And what do you know? What have you learned?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Everything. Only yesterday we touched the key-stone of their scheme. To-night--this very night--they have planned an escape. They will attend as usual in the Place; they will fool us as they have fooled us before; and then, when the house is quiet--when the Six are at rest, exhausted by prayer and meditation--they will accomplish their vile work. They will plunder the Treasury of the Unseen!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh no! No!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are right, he cried, suddenly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What you say is right. There will be no plunder. The Treasury of the Unseen will remain inviolate!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They have laid their plans, he whispered, with a sudden and savage exultation,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You mean--? You mean--? she stammered; then her fear found voice."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What do you mean?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I mean, he said, with fierce vindictiveness,"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You would denounce him before the People? she said, incredulously."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You would trap him? One man against a hundred! Oh, it would be cowardly! Cruel!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Cowardly? Cowardly? Do you know what you are saying? The man is a thief!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You have no right to use that word. You have not seen him steal."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Seen him? No. But the ears are as reliable as the eyes, and we have heard him declare that he intends to steal."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Intends! Intends! Intentions are not acts."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, be merciful! she cried."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Give him the benefit of mercy. Wait till the Assembly is over, and then accuse him. If you can prove your accusation, then justice can be done. On the other hand--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The other hand? Again Bale-Corphew's cruel laugh broke from him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He has not shrunk from lies--from imposture--from blasphemy. Is it likely he will shrink from his reward? Oh no! We will run no risks. The trap has closed. No one will gain access to him to-night until the hour of the Gathering has arrived. It will be my special--my sacred--duty to watch and guard."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And why have you come here? she asked, unsteadily."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why have you come here? What has this to do with me?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can you ask that question?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why not? she murmured."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why should I not?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why not? He laughed again, suddenly and savagely."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because the man loves you. Because he stole out of the house to-day--and came here to you. I tracked him here and tracked him back again."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So--so you are a spy?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A spy? he cried."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am a spy? Very well! We will see who comes out victor. The thief or the spy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wanted to know this, he exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wanted to be sure. I had my suspicions, but I wanted proof. On the day I surprised you with him, I suspected; to-day, when I saw him enter this house, I felt convinced--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Convinced of what?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Convinced that there is more in this matter than his love for you. That there is also--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, she said, distinctly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, you are quite right. There is more in this matter than his love for me. There is also my love for him!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Norris, she said, in a quiet voice,"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Get me my long black cloak, Norris, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And a black hat and veil. I am going out."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You will be back to dinner, ma'am?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No. I shall not want dinner. I may not be back till ten--perhaps eleven. If I am late, no one need wait up."
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "St. George's Terrace!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What number, lady?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "HER HAND WAS TREMBLING AS SHE RAISED THE HEAVY KNOCKER"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No number! Just stop here! Put me down here!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are in good time, my child; the Gathering is for eight o'clock."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, she said, quickly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know it is for eight o'clock, but I have come early. I have come because I wish--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have come, she added, with gathered resolution,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Prophet holds private Audience only in the morning,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know that. But there are exceptions to the rule--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Prophet holds private Audience only in the morning."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But the Prophet is generous. Five minutes alone with him will satisfy me--three minutes--two minutes--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Prophet holds private Audience only in the morning."
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course, you are right in what you say, she murmured."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But I am going to make an appeal. If I may not see the Prophet in private Audience, then let me see him in your presence! I have only a dozen words to say; and, if necessary, I will say them in your presence. You can see it is urgent, when I am willing to humiliate myself. It is only for her Soul that a woman will conquer her pride. You won't deny peace to my Soul?"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is useless to appeal to me, he said;"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thank you! she said, quietly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Permission is granted!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In what can I serve you?"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You can do me a great service--a very great service,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, I know you are surprised, she added, quickly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know this seems unusual--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My--my duty-- he broke in, uneasily."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My duty is to--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I AM IN NEED OF HELP ... AND YOU CAN HELP ME"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Charity is greater than duty!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Which do _you_ consider the greater virtue? she asked."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Duty or charity?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Charity, he said, at last, hesitatingly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes! yes! she cried."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Prophet teaches us that charity is the greater virtue. He tells us that we are to rely upon ourselves--and also upon each other. We are to help ourselves--and to help each other."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am in need of help, she added."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In desperate need. And you can help me."
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is something troubling my Soul, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Something that I must confess to the Prophet to-night. My whole happiness--all my peace--depends upon confessing it. I cannot speak with him before the Gathering assembles; but I can write my confession. Will you save my Soul? Will you carry my confession to him?"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In twenty minutes the Gathering will be assembled,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know, I know. But there is still time. It is a matter of--of faith--of peace of mind."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It--it is impossible,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why impossible?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because the Prophet is exalted to-night. The Arch-Mystics themselves are guarding the Threshold. The Prophet is exalted; he must not be disturbed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But if it is necessary to disturb him? If there is a Soul in danger?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Prophet must not be disturbed. What are we, that we should thrust our wrong-doing or our sorrow upon the Mighty One?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Silence! she said, excitedly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You do not know what you are saying! The Prophet sets his people high above himself. The message of a Soul in distress is of more value in his eyes than a hundred moments of exaltation. Take care that his wrath does not fall upon you!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes. Take care! she cried."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Take care! You have the well-being--the whole future--of one Soul in your hands to-night. How will you answer to the Prophet, if you fail in the trust?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If you fail, the wrong can never be repaired. And the doing of the action will cost you nothing. Take this note-- With agitated haste she tore a leaf from a tiny note-book that hung at her waist."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Take this note. Tell no one. Give it into the Prophet's own hands-- She drew out a pencil and wrote a few enigmatical words."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Give it into his own hands; and I can promise you that your reward will be greater than you think."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Take it, she said, impressively."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And remember that it is something important, essential--sacred."
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Go!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So this is your action? he said, tremulously."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is your conception of honor? Truly, woman is the undoing of man!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A just man need fear no woman! she exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is because you are unjust and a coward that you fear--that you suspect--that you find it necessary to hide and spy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have been outraged! he cried--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have been outraged!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And, like an unreasoning animal, you turn to devour the thing that has hurt you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I demand justice."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And you call this justice? You call it justice to trap one man and set a hundred others loose upon him?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And what is this man to you? he cried."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What spell has he cast upon you that you can forget his outrage and his blasphemy?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I do not know, she said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Once I believed that I admired him--that I looked up to him--because he was a Prophet; something higher and better than myself. Now I know that my belief was wrong and false; that it was because he is a man--because, before everything else in the world, he is a man--that I turned to him, that I relied upon him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So that is it? That is the secret? He is a man? Well, I will strip him of his manhood! We have had our disillusioning; yours is to come. Here, on this sacred spot where he has been so exalted, he will bite the dust."
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh no! she said, suddenly, faltering before the picture."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No! No! You cannot. You must not. Be merciful! Let him go. And if there is anything--any recompense--"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "SHE SAW THE FIGURE OF THE PROPHET ... ATTENDED BY THE PRECURSOR AND THE SIX ARCH-MYSTICS"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He will fool us--as he has fooled us before."
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My People, he said, very calmly and distinctly,"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My People, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is always well to study one's own kind; and to-night I am going to speak to you of a man. I am going to tell you the story of a man--a man as passionate, as headstrong, as weak and vulnerable as you yourselves."
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "These were his surroundings--this was his environment; and yet--so great are the miracles that love can accomplish--every day of that boy's life was illumined and glorified by one presence. God in his bounty had given him a mother!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was a very humble, a very young ambition, but it sprang from the true, clean source of untainted love, like which there is nothing else in all the world."
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It came. But it came enveloped in no cloud of glory. The path to the lost inheritance was steep and rugged and dark. He was called upon to leave his mother; to leave the place that, however sordid, however mean, was yet his home; and to enter upon a period of servitude with an unknown master--a man related to him by blood, whom report described as an eccentric--a miser--a madman."
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He worked more laboriously than the laborer in the fields, for mental servitude is more galling to the young than any physical strain. But he never faltered; and at last he had the pride of knowing that his end was gained--he had the pride of knowing that he had become indispensable to the master whom he served!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was the most glorious moment of his life--that moment in which he stood with unshaken faith, looking towards the future. But the darker side of existence was his portion; he had been born to the darker side. Within one hour of his master's death, his dreams were dispelled. He learned that, in the eyes of the man he had served, he had never passed beyond the position of the outcast--the dependent, whose services are liberally rewarded by the gift of a few hundred pounds. The fortune--the inheritance--the golden mirage, was no longer existent, save as something that did not concern him. By the disposition of his master's will, it had passed into the coffers of a religious body--a fantastic, unknown sect to which the old man had belonged!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Such a knowledge has power to work a miracle; and in one single night it changed this boy into a man. Embittered, hopeless, stranded, inspiration came to him. He conceived the tremendous idea of entering upon a new fight--a second quest of the great inheritance. He conceived the idea; and standing, as it were, upon a different plane of life, he saw--"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mystics! he cried, in a choked voice."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In accordance with a solemn duty, I--I proclaim this man to be--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "People! Mystics! he cried, raising his penetrating voice."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is this right? Is this permissible?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "People! hear me! he exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This man is no Prophet. He is an impostor! A fraud! I have proof. I can give you proof!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Listen! he cried;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "People, he demanded,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is sacrilege! Sacrilege! Norov suddenly raised his voice."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Listen to your Councillor!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Listen to the Prophet! The Voice of the Prophet calls upon you. Will you deny it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This is the truth! I tell you the truth!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mystics! Mystics!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Prophet! The Prophet! Let the Prophet speak!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My feelings on that night were the criminal feelings that underlie all civilization. I had only one desire--to destroy--to be avenged. My uncle, Andrew Henderson, was an Arch-Mystic of your sect; and on the night he died, your sacred Scitsym was in his house!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But to come to the end, your Prophet was to be a student of Eastern lore. With this knowledge in my mind, I started with my mother for the East. What has happened since then is immaterial. My second probation has been as hard as my first. But I accomplished two things. I fitted myself mentally and physically for the part I was going to play, and I made one stanch, wholly disinterested friend!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "People! he cried, hoarsely,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Silence! he cried."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is no need for interference. This matter is between the People and myself."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I will tell you everything that this man would tell you, he said, in a steady voice."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I believe I will even use the word he himself would choose. I am a thief! I am a thief--in intention if not in act!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Judge me! I am in your hands. If you think I deserve punishment, punish me! If you think circumstances have made me what I am, then stand aside! Let me pass out of your lives!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sacrilege! Sacrilege!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Prophet! The Prophet!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Prophet! The Prophet!"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are not to think, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "To-night is past."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But Hellier Crescent? What happened after--after--?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You must not think of it. They gathered round me. They were generous. They heaped coals of fire."
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And after to-night--?"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What are you going to do?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am going back to the East. The hardest task of my life is awaiting me there. It is a very bitter thing to disillusionize the person to whom one is a hero."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are speaking of your mother? You are thinking of your mother?"
}
]
|
21127 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Let me tell her the story! she said, almost inaudibly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Take me with you--and let me tell her! We are both women, and-- Her head drooped slightly; and her face flushed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And we both love you."
}
]
|
17824 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Little Black Sambo, I'm going to eat you up!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh! Please, Mr. Tiger, don't eat me up, and I'll give you my beautiful little Red Coat."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Very well, I won't eat you this time, but you must give me your beautiful little Red Coat."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Little Black Sambo, I'm going to eat you up!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh! Please, Mr. Tiger, don't eat me up, and I'll give you my beautiful little Blue Trousers."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Very well, I won't eat you this time, but you must give me your beautiful little Blue Trousers. So the Tiger got poor Little Black Sambo's beautiful little Blue Trousers, and went away saying,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Little Black Sambo, I'm going to eat you up! And Little Black Sambo said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh! Please, Mr. Tiger, don't eat me up, and I'll give you my beautiful little Purple Shoes with Crimson Soles and Crimson Linings."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What use would your shoes be to me? I've got four feet and you've got only two."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You haven't got enough shoes for me. But Little Black Sambo said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You could wear them on your ears."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So I could, said the Tiger,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Little Black Sambo, I'm going to eat you up!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh! Please, Mr. Tiger, don't eat me up and I'll give you my beautiful Green Umbrella. But the Tiger said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How can I carry an umbrella when I need all my paws for walking with?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You could tie a knot on your tail, and carry it that way,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So I could, said the Tiger."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Give it to me and I won't eat you this time."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now _I_'m the grandest Tiger in the Jungle."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Gr-r-r-r-rrrrrrr,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh dear! said Little Black Sambo,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There are all the Tigers coming back to eat me up! What shall I do?"
}
]
|
17824 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh! Tigers! why have you taken off all your nice clothes? Don't you want them any more?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Gr-r-r-rrrrr!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you want them, say so, or I'll take them away. But the Tigers would not let go of each others' tails, and so they could only say"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Gr-r-r-rrrrrr!"
}
]
|
17824 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh! what lovely melted butter! I'll take that home to Black Mumbo for her to cook with."
}
]
|
17824 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, said she,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "THY SERVANT WILL GO AND FIGHT WITH THIS PHILISTINE. 1 SAM. 17-32 94 VII THE GOING OF SLIPPY McGEE 111 VIII THE BUTTERFLY MAN 131 IX NESTS 145 X THE BLUEJAY 172 XI A LITTLE GIRL GROWN UP 189 XII JOHN FLINT, GENTLEMAN 203 XIII"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "EACH IN HIS OWN COIN 226 XIV THE WISHING CURL 258 XV IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT 283 XVI"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "WILL YOU WALK INTO MY PARLOR 302 XVII"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Clarion"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now there was my cousin Eliza, Miss Sally Ruth Dexter once said to me,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What did you see in your travels that you liked most?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, General Lee's standin' statue in the Capitol an' his recumbent figure in Washington an' Lee chapel, of co'se! said the colonel promptly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "An' listen hyuh, Father De Rancé, I certainly needed him to take the bad taste out of my mouth an' the red out of my eye after viewin' Bill Sherman on a brass hawse in New York, with an angel that'd lost the grace of God prancin' on ahead of him! He added reflectively:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I had my own ideah as to where any angel leadin' _him_ was most likely headed for!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I meant in Europe!"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Uh huh, Europe's good enough for Europeans an' the Nawth's a God's plenty good enough for Yankees, but Appleboro for me. Why, father, they haven't got anything like our monument to their names!"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Little mother of my heart, I blurted,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "... whom Aholibah"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, no, not that! I reassured her."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am at once too strong and not strong enough for solitude and silence. Surely there is room and work for one who would serve God through serving his fellow men, in the open, is there not?"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And I hope you understand, said he, sorrowfully,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, then, go and try it out to the uttermost, said the Bishop."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And it may be that, if you do not kill yourself with overwork, you may return to me cured, when you see the futility of the task you wish to undertake."
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah! And was it, then, a De Rancé who had the holy Mother of God painted in a family picture, with a scroll issuing from her lips addressing him as 'My Cousin'?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If it was, nobody in the world had a better right!"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He caught it from his cats, suh: he caught every God-blessed bit of it from his cats!"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You had better be thankful your life is spared you, young man,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thankful? he screamed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thankful, hell! I've got to have two good legs to make any sort of a getaway, haven't I? Well, have I got 'em? I'm down and out for fair, that's what! Thankful? You make me sick! Honest to God, when you gas like that I feel like bashing in your brain, if you've got any! You and your thankfulness!"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One does one's duty as one finds it, of course, said the big doctor, looking down at the unpromising face on the pillow, and shaking his head."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, yes, yes, one must do what's right, on the face of it, come what will. There's no getting around _that!_ He glanced at me, a shadow in his kind gray eyes."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But there are times, my friend, when I wonder! Now, this morning I had to tell a working man his wife's got to die. There's no help and no hope--she's got to die, and she a mother of young children. So I have to try desperately, said the doctor, rubbing his nose,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Slippy McGee."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "finding himself somewhat hampered in his native haunts, the seething underworld of New York, because the police suspected him of certain daring and mysterious burglaries although they had no positive proof against him, had chosen to shift his base of operations South for awhile. But the Southern authorities had been urgently warned to look out for him; in consequence they had been so close upon his heels that he had been surrounded while"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Friend, said I,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If John Flint's not fancy enough for you, he suggested truculently,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Percy?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sure, Percy, he grinned impudently."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But if you got a grouch against Percy, can it, and make me Algy. _I_ don't mind. It's not _me_ beefing about monikers; it's you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am also, said I, regarding him steadily and ignoring his flippancy,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am also obliged to ask you what is your occupation--when you are not stealing rides?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Looks like it might be answering questions just now, don't it? What you want to know for? Whatever it is, I'm not able to do it now, am I? But as you're so naturally bellyaching to know, why, I've been in the ring."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "So I presumed. Thank you, said I, politely."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And your name is John Flint, or Percy, or Algy, just as I choose. Percy and Algy are rather unusual names for a gentleman who has been in the ring, don't you think?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think, he snarled, turned suddenly ferocious,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh! Suppose then, said I, without taking my eyes from his,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ain't you the real little Sherlock Holmes, though? he jeered presently."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Got Old Sleuth skinned for fair and Nick Carter eating out of your hand! You damned skypilot! His voice cracked."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You're all alike! Get a man on his back and then put the screws on him!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "For God's sake don't stand there staring like a bughouse owl! he gritted."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, what you going to do? Bawl for the bulls? What put you wise?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Help you to get well. No. I opened your bag--and looked up the newspapers,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Huh! A fat lot of good it'll do me to get well now, won't it? You think I ought to thank you for butting in and keeping me from dying without knowing anything about it, don't you? Well, you got another think coming. I don't. Ever hear of a pegleg in the ring? Ever hear of a one-hoofed dip! A long time I'd be Slippy McGee playing cat-and-mouse with the bulls, if I had to leave some of my legs home when I needed them right there on the job, wouldn't I? Oh, sure!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And was it, I wondered,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Didn't you read the papers? he wondered in his turn."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There don't many travel in _my_ class, skypilot! Why, I haven't _got_ any equals--the best of them trail a mile behind. Ask the bulls, if you want to know about Slippy McGee! And I let the happy dust alone. Most dips are dopes, but I was too slick; I cut it out. I knew if the dope once gets you, then the bulls get next. Not for Slippy. I've kept my head clear, and that's how I've muddled theirs. They never get next to anything until I've cleaned up and dusted. Why, honest to God, I can open any box made, easy as easy, just like I can put it all over any bull alive! That is, a spasm twisted his face and into his voice crept the acute anguish of the artist deprived of all power to create,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am sorry, said I soothingly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Can it! he implored."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Cut it out! Ain't I up against enough now, for God's sake? Down and out--and nothing to do but have my soul curry-combed and mashfed by a skypilot with _both_ his legs and _all_ his mouth on him! Ain't it hell, though? Say, you better send for the cops. I'd rather stand for the pen than the preaching. What'd you do with my bag, anyway?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But I really have no idea of preaching to you; and I would rather not send for the police--afterwards, when you are better, you may do so if you choose. You are a free agent. As for your bag, why--it is--it is--in the keeping of the Church."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Huh! said he, and twisted his mouth cynically."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Huh! Then it's good-bye tools, I suppose. I'm no churchmember, thank God, but I've heard that once the Church gets her clamps on anything worth while all hell can't pry her loose."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, that's it exactly! said I, smiling."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Once the Church gets real hold of a thing--or a man--worth while, she holds on so fast that all hell can't pry her loose. Won't you try to remember that, my son!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If it's a joke, suck the marrow out of it yourself, said he sourly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It don't listen so horrible funny to me. And you haven't peeped yet about what you're going to do. I'm waiting to hear. I'm real interested."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, I really don't know yet, said I, still cheerfully."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Suppose we wait and see? Here you are, safe and harmless enough for the present. And God is good; perhaps He knows that you and I may need each other more than you and the police need each other--who can tell? I should simply set myself strictly to the task of getting entirely well, if I were you--and let it go at that."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Devil-dodger, said he, after a pause,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That's on the level."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "God A'mighty! I believe him!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Say, if you're really on the level, I guess you'd better not be flashing the name of Slippy McGee around promiscuous, he suggested presently."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It won't do either you or me any good, see? And say, parson,--forget Percy and Algy. How was I to know you'd be so white? And look here: I did know a gink named John Flint, once. Only he was called Reddy, because he'd got such a blazing red head and whiskers. He's croaked, so he wouldn't mind me using his moniker, seeing it's not doing him any good now."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let us agree upon John Flint,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Help yourself,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's funny, he reflected, when the yellow woman had left the room with the empty bowl,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Parson?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why--er--come in a bit to-night, will you? That is, if you've got time. And look here: don't you get the notion in your bean I'm just some little old two-by-four guy of a yegg or some poor nut of a dip. I'm _not_. Why, I've been the whole show _and_ manager besides. Yep, I'm Slippy McGee himself."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You're sure some white man, parson."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thank you, John Flint,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Madame"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Padre, said the boy to me, some time later,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A dent! In Flint? With what adamantine pick, oh hardiest of miners!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "With a book. Guess!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I couldn't. I give up."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Bible!"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And how, said I, curious,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, I got to studying about this chap. I wanted something that'd _reach him_. I was puzzled. And then I remembered hearing my father say that the Bible is the most interesting book in the world because it's the most personal. There's something in it for everybody. So I thought there'd be something in it for John Flint, and I tried it on him, without telling him what I was giving him. I just plunged right in, head over heels. Lord, Padre, it _is_ a wonderful old book, isn't it? Why, I got so lost in it myself that I forgot all about John Flint, until I happened to glance up and see that he was up to the eyes in it, just like I was! He likes the fights and he gloats over the spoils. He's asking for more. I think of turning Paul loose on him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, if after the manner of men Paul fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, I said hopefully."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I dare say he'll be able to hold his own even with John Flint."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I like Paul best of all, myself, said Laurence."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You see, Padre, my father and I have needed a dose of Paul more than once--to stiffen our backbones. So I'm going to turn the fighting old saint loose on John Flint. 'By, Padre;--I'll look in to-morrow--I left poor old Elijah up in a cave with no water, and the ravens overdue!"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sally Ruth, said the major, depositing his bulky person in a rocking chair, his hat upon the floor, and wiping his forehead with a spotless handkerchief the size of a respectable sheet,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sally Ruth, you like Old Maids?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, I've got a yard full of 'em myself, Major. Whatever made you bother to pick 'em? But to whom much hath more shall be given, I suppose,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What good under God's sky does it do you to be an old maid, Sally Ruth? You're flyin' in the face of Providence. No lady should fly in the face of Providence--she'd a sight better fly to the bosom of some man, where she belongs. This mawnin' I looked out of my window and my eye fell upon these unfortunate flowers. Right away I thought of you, livin' over here all alone and by yourself, with no man's bosom to lean on--you haven't really got anything but a few fowls and the Lord to love, have you? And, Sally Ruth, tears came to my eyes. Talk not of tears till you have seen the tears of warlike men! I believe it would almost scare you to death to see me cryin', Sally Ruth! I got to thinkin', and I said to myself: 'Appleby Cartwright, you have always done your duty like a man. You charged up to the very muzzle of Yankee guns once, and you weren't scared wu'th a damn! Are you goin' to be scared now? There's a plain duty ahead of you; Sally Ruth's a fine figure of a woman, and she ought to have a man's bosom to lean on. Go offer Sally Ruth yours!' So here I am, Sally Ruth!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You're drunk, Appleby Cartwright, that's what's the matter with you. You and your bosom! Why, it's not respectable to talk like that! At your age, too! I'm ashamed of you!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was a little upset, over in Savannah, admitted the major."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Those fellows must have gotten me to swallow over a gallon of their infernal brew--and it goes down like silk, too. Listen at me: don't you ever let 'em make you drink a gallon of that punch, Sally Ruth."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I've seen its effects before. Go home and sleep it off, said Miss Sally Ruth, not unkindly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If you came over to warn me about filling up on Artillery Punch, your duty's done--I've never been entertained by the Chatham Artillery, and I don't ever expect to be. I suppose it was intended for you to be a born goose, Appleby, so it'd be a waste of time for me to fuss with you about it. Go on home, now, do, and let Cæsar put you to bed. Tell him to tie a wet rag about your head and to keep it wet. That'll help to cool you off."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sally Ruth, said the major, laying his hand upon his heart and trying desperately to focus her with an eye that would waver in spite of him,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sally Ruth, _somebody's_ got to do something for you, and it might as well be me. My God, Sally Ruth, _you're settin' like clabber!_ It's a shame; it's a cryin' shame, for you're a fine woman. I don't mean to scare or flutter you, Sally Ruth,--no gentleman ought to scare or flutter a lady--but I'm offerin' you my hand and heart; here's my bosom for you to lean on."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That Savannah brew is worse even than I thought--it's run the man stark crazy,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Me crazy! Why, I'm askin' you, said the major with awful dignity,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm askin' you to marry me!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Marry _you_? Marry fiddlesticks! Shucks!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You won't? Amazement made him sag down in his chair. He stared at her owl-like."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Woman, said he solemnly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hope, said Miss Sally Ruth tartly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sally Ruth, said the major feelingly,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ouch! Turn loose! I take it back! The devil! It wasn't intended for any mortal man to marry you--Sally Ruth, I wouldn't marry you now for forty billion dollars and a mule! Turn loose, you hussy! Turn loose!"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was born --_shake_--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "--_shake, shake, shake_--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have lived--by the grace of God --_shake, shake, shake_--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "--_shake_--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "--_shake_--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "--_shake, shake, SHAKE_--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "--_shake, shake, shake_--"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The wages of walking up and down the earth and going to and fro in it, tramping like Satan, is a lost leg. Not that it wasn't intended you should lose yours--and I hope and pray it will be a lesson to you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, take it from me, he said grimly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come! said she, briskly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If you've got sense enough to see _that_, you're not so far away from the truth as you might be. Collecting your wages is the good and the bad thing about life, I reckon. But everything's intended, so you don't need to be too sorry for yourself, any way you look at it. And you could just as well have lost _both_ legs while you were at it, you know. She paused reflectively."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Let's see: I've got chicken-broth and fresh rolls to-day--I'll send you over some, after awhile."
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We are all made of dust, said my mother once."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But Mary Virginia's is star dust. Star dust, and dew, and morning gold,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She simply cannot imagine evil, much less see it in anything or in anybody, I told Madame, for at times the child's sheer innocence troubled me for her."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "One is puzzled how to bring home to this naïve soul the ugly truth that all is not good. Now, Laurence is better balanced. He takes people and events with a saving grain of skepticism. But Mary Virginia is divinely blind."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do not worry too much over that divinely blind one, my son, said she."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I assure you, she is quite capable of seeing a steeple in daylight! Observe this: yesterday Laurence angered her, and she seized him by the hair and bumped his head against the study wall--no mild thump, either! She has in her quite enough of the leaven of unrighteousness to save her, at a pinch--for Laurence was entirely right, she entirely wrong. Yet--she made him apologize before she consented to forgive him, and he did it gratefully. She allowed him to understand how magnanimous she was in thus pardoning him for her own naughtiness, and he was deeply impressed, as men-creatures should be under such circumstances. Such wisdom, and she but a child! I was enchanted!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good heavens! Surely, Mother, I misunderstand you! Surely you reproved her!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Reprove her? My mother's voice was full of astonishment."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why should I reprove her? She was perfectly right!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Perfectly right? Why, you said--indeed, I assure you, you said that Laurence had been entirely right, she entirely wrong!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, _that!_ I see; well, as for that, she was."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then, surely--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My son, a woman who is in the wrong is entirely right when she makes the man apologize, said my mother firmly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That is the Law, fixed as the Medes' and the Persians', and she who forgets or ignores it is ground between the upper and the nether millstones. Mary Virginia remembered and obeyed. When she grows up you will all of you adore her madly. Why, then, should she be reproved?"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The opulent dyepots of the angels"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Huh! I can eat hominy off her head!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Old Mister Biggity!"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are the Padre's last guest, aren't you? her eyes were full of gravest sympathy."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm so sorry you met with such a misfortune--but I'm gladder you're alive. It's so good just to be alive in the spring, isn't it?"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Padre, said Mary Virginia with deep gravity."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My aunt Jenny says I'm growing up. She says I'll have to put up my hair and let down my frocks pretty soon, and that I'll probably be thinking of beaux in another year, though she hopes to goodness I won't, until I've got through with school at least."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Beaux! Long skirts! Put up hair! Great Scott, will you listen to the kid! scoffed Laurence."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You everlasting little silly, you! P'tite Madame, these cakes are certainly all to the good. May I have another two or three, please!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm 'most thirteen years old, Laurence Mayne, said Mary Virginia, with dignity."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You're only seventeen, so you don't need to give yourself such hateful airs. You're not too old to be greedy, anyhow. Padre, _am_ I growing up?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I fear so, my child,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You're not glad, either, are you, Padre?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But you were such a delightful child,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, lovely! said Laurence, eying her with unflattering brotherliness."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And she had so much feeling, too, Mary Virginia! Why, when I was sick once, she wanted me to die, so she could ride to my funeral in the front carriage; she doted on funerals, the little ghoul! She was horribly disappointed when I got better--she thought it disobliging of me, and that I'd done it to spite her. Once, too, when I tried to reason with her--and Mary Virginia needed reason if ever a kid did--she bumped my head until I had knots on it. There's your delightful Mary Virginia for you!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Anyhow, you didn't die and become an angel--you stayed disagreeably alive and you're going to become a lawyer, said Mary Virginia, too gently."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And your head was bumpable, Laurence, though I'm sorry to say I don't ever expect to bump it again. Why, I'm going away to school and when I come back I'll be Miss Eustis, and you'll be Mr. Mayne! Won't it be funny, though?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't see anything funny in calling you Miss Eustis, said Laurence, with boyish impatience."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And I'm certainly not going to notice you if you're silly enough to call me Mister Mayne. I hope you won't be a fool, Mary Virginia. So many girls are fools."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not half as big fools as boys are, though, said she, dispassionately."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My father says the man is always the bigger fool of the two."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wonder what we'll be like, though--both of us?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You? You're biggity now, but you'll be lots worse, then, said Mary Virginia, with unflattering frankness."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think you'll probably strut like a turkey, and you'll be baldheaded, and wear double-lensed horn spectacles, and spats, and your wife will call you 'Mr. Mayne' to your face and 'Your Poppa' to the children, and she'll perfectly _despise_ people like Madame and the Padre and me!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You never did have any reasoning power, Mary Virginia, said Laurence, with brotherly tact."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Our black cat Panch would put it all over you. Allow me to inform you I'm _not_ biggity, miss! I'm logical--something a girl can't understand. And I'd like to know what you think _you're_ going to grow up to be?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, let's quit talking about it, she said petulantly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I hate to think of growing up. Grown ups don't seem to be happy--and _I_ want to be happy!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Weren't you sorry when you had to stop being a little boy and grow up?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Me? he laughed harshly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I couldn't say, miss. I guess I was born grown up."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That wasn't a bit fair,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There's a lot not fair, he told her,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "his forehead puckered as if a thought new to him had struck him,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, looks! said she, thoughtfully."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, isn't it curious for you to say just that, right now, for it reminds me that I brought something to the Padre--something that set me to thinking about people's looks, too,--and how you never can tell. Wait a minute, and I'll show you."
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I happened to put my hand on a tree--and this little fellow moved, and I caught him. I thought at first he was a part of the tree-trunk, he looked so much like it,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "One wouldn't think him pretty, would one?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, said Flint, who had wheeled nearer, and craned his neck over the box."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, miss, I shouldn't think I'd call something like that pretty,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I brought him along, thinking the Padre might like him, and tell me something about him, said the little girl."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The Padre's crazy about moths and butterflies, you must understand, and we're always on the lookout to get them for him. I never found this particular one before, and you can't imagine how I felt when he showed me what he had hidden under that gray cloak of his!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He's a member of a large and most respectable family, the Catocalæ, I told her."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'll take him, my dear, and thank you--there's always a demand for the Catocalæ. And you may call him an Underwing, if you prefer--that's his common name."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I got to thinking, said the little girl, thoughtfully, lifting her clear and candid eyes to John Flint's."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I got to thinking, when he threw aside his plain gray cloak and showed me his lovely underwings, that he's like some people--people you'd think were very common, you know. You couldn't be expected to know what was underneath, could you? So you pass them by, thinking how ordinary, and matter of fact, and uninteresting and even ugly they are, and you feel rather sorry for them--because you don't know. But if you can once get close enough to touch them--why, then you find out! Her eyes grew deeper, and brighter, as they do when she is moved; and the color came more vividly to her cheek."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't you reckon, said she naïvely,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Could I hold it--for a minute--in my own hand?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of course you may, said Mary Virginia pleasantly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I see by the Padre's face this isn't a rare moth--he's been here all along, only my eyes have just been opened to him. I don't want him to go in any collection. I don't want him to go anywhere, except back into the air--I owe him that for what he taught me. So I'm sure the Padre won't mind, if you'd like to set him free, yourself."
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I remember running after a butterfly once, when I was a kid, said he."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He came flying down our street, Lord knows where from, or why, and I caught him after a chase. I thought he was the prettiest thing ever my eyes had seen, and I wanted the worst way in the world to keep him with me. A brown fellow he was, all sprinkled over with little splotches of silver, as if there'd been plenty of the stuff on hand, and it'd been laid on him thick. But after awhile I got to thinking he'd feel like he was in jail, shut up in my hot fist. I couldn't bear that, so I ran to the end of the street, to save him from the other kids, and then I turned him loose and watched him beat it for the sky. They're pretty things, butterflies. Somehow I always liked them better than any other living creatures."
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Padre, she suggested suddenly,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you think there's any way I could help the parson for awhile, I'd be proud to try, miss. It's true, he added casually, with a sphinx-like immobility of countenance,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We'll call it settled, then,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Parson, said he, abruptly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Parson, you folks are swells, ain't you? The real thing, I mean, you and Madame? Even the yellow nigger's a lady nigger, ain't she?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am a poor priest, such as you see, my son, Madame is--Madame. And Clélie is a good servant."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But you were born a swell, weren't you? he persisted."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Old family, swell diggings, trained flunkies, and all that?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I was born a gentleman, if that is what you mean. Of an old family, yes. And there was an old house--once."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How'd _you_ ever hit the trail for the Church? I wonder! But say, you never asked me any more questions than you had to, so you can tell me to shut up, if you want to. Not that I wouldn't like to know how the Sam Hill the like of you ever got nabbed by the skypilots."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "God called me through affliction, my son."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, said my son, blankly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Huh! But I bet you the best crib ever cracked you were some peach of a boy before you got that 'S.O.S.'"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was, like the young, the thoughtless young, a sinner."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I suppose, said he tentatively, after a pause,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I do not think it would injure you to change your--course of life, nor yet your way of mentioning it, I said, feeling my way cautiously."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But--we are bidden to remember there is more joy in heaven over one sinner saved than over the ninety-and-nine just men."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is that so? Well, it listens like good horse-sense to me, said Mr. Flint, promptly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Because, look here: you can rake in ninety-and-nine boobs any old time--there's one born every time the clock ticks, parson--but they don't land something like me every day, believe me! And I bet you a stack of dollar chips a mile high there was some song-and-dance in the sky-joint when they put one over on _you_ for fair. Sure!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Parson, that kid's a swell, too, ain't she? And the boy?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Laurence is the son of Judge Hammond Mayne."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And the little girl?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I suppose, I agreed,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I never, said he, reflectively,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She is, indeed, a dear, dear child,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'd almost think I'd dreamed her, said he, thoughtfully,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "he added hastily, with his first touch of shame."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I've seen 'em from the Battery up, and some of 'em was sure-enough queens, but I didn't know they came like this one. She's bran-new to me, parson. Say, you just show me what she wants me to help you with, and I'll do it. She seems to think I can, and it oughtn't to be any harder than opening a time-vault, ought it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, said I gravely,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I shouldn't think it would be. Though I never opened a time-vault, you understand, and I hope and pray you'll never touch one again, either. I'd rather you wouldn't even refer to it, please. It makes me feel, rather--well, let's say _particeps criminis_."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I suppose that's the polite for punching you in the wind, said he, just as gravely."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And I didn't think you'd ever monkeyed with a vault; why, you couldn't, not if you was to try till Gabriel did his little turn in the morning--not unless you'd been caught when you were softer and put wise. Man, it's a bigger job than you think, and you've got to have the know-how and the nerve before you can put it over. But there--I'll keep it dark, seeing you want me to. He stretched out his hands, regarding them speculatively."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They _are_ classy mitts, he remarked impersonally."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yep, seemed like they were just naturally made to--do what they did. They were built for fine work."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The work little Miss Eustis suggested for you, I insinuated hastily,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lead me to it, said he wearily, and without enthusiasm,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hey, you! Mister! Them worms is pizen! Them's _fever_-worms!"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What any man in his right mind wants with a thing that ain't nothin' but wriggles an' hair on the outside an' sqush on the inside, beats me!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But all of them are interesting, some are valuable, and many grow into very beautiful moths and butterflies,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "S'posin' they do? You can't eat 'em or wear 'em or plant 'em, can you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "An' you mean to tell me to my face, said a scandalized farmer, watching me assorting and naming the specimens taken from my field box,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That amiable failin', Major Appleby Cartwright decided,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hickory devil"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My God! said he,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Kill it! Kill it!"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Phe-ew! It took all my nerve to do it! said he, frankly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I felt for a minute as if a strong-arm cop'd chased me up an alley and pulled his gun on me. The feeling of a bug's legs on your bare skin is something fierce at first, ain't it? But after _him_ none of 'em can scare me any more. I could play tag with pink monkeys with blue tails and green whiskers without sending in the hurry-call."
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where the Sam Hill, he blazed,"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Think of me being in the same world with 'em all these years and not knowing a thing about 'em when there's so much to know, and under my skin stark crazy to learn it, only I didn't know I even wanted to know what I really want to know more than anything else, until I had to get dumped down here to find it out! I get the funniest sort of a feeling, parson, that all along there's been a Me tucked away inside my hide that's been loving these things ever since I was born. Not just to catch and handle 'em, and stretch out their little wings, and remember the names some bughouse high-brow wished on 'em, though all that's in the feeling, too; it's something else, if I could make you understand what I mean."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think I do understand, said I."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have a Me like that tucked away in mine, too, you know."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Parson, said he, earnestly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, said I, smiling,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Me? He reflected."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Maybe half of me might be, parson, he agreed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm pinning my faith to _my_ half,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, why? he asked, with sudden fierceness."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I turn it over and over and over: it looks white on the outside, but I can't to save me figure out _why_ you're doing it. Parson, _what_ have you got up your sleeve?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nothing but my arm. What should you think?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't know what to think, and that's the straight of it. What's your game, anyhow? What in the name of God are you after?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, I think, said I,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'll take your word for it, said he."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Though if anybody'd ever told me I'd be eating out of a parson's hand, I'd have pushed his face in for him. Yep, I'm Fido! _Me!_"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "At least you growl enough,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Have I got to lick hands?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Parson!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If I'm not the sort that licks hands I'm not the sort that bites 'em, neither. I'll tell you--it's this way: I--sort of get to chewing on that infernal log of wood that's where my good leg used to grow and--and splinters get into my temper--and I've _got_ to snarl or burst wide open! You'd growl like the devil yourself, if you had to try holding down my job for awhile, skypilot or no skypilot!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why--I dare say I should, said I, contritely."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, I added, after a pause,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I shouldn't be any the better for it, should you think?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not so you could notice, shortly. And after a moment he added, in an altered voice:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Rule 1: Can the Squeal!"
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All Buckrahs is funny in dey haids, Daddy January consoled her when she complained to him about it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Dey gets all kind o' fool notions 'bout all kind o' fool t'ings. You ain't got to feel so bad--de Jedge is lots wuss'n yo' boss is. Yo' boss kin see de bugs he run atter, but my boss talk 'bout some kind o' bug he call Germ. I ax um what kind o' bug is dat; an' he 'low you can't see um wid yo' eye. I ain't say so to de Jedge, but _I_ 'low when you see bug you can't see wid yo' eye, you best not seem um 'tall--case he must be some kind o' spook, an' Gawd knows I ain't want to see no spook. Ef de bug ain't no spook, den he mus' be eenside yo' haid, 'stead o' outside um, an' to hab bug on de eenside o' yo' haid is de wuss kind o' bad luck. Anyhow, nobody but Buckrah talk an' ack like dat, niggers is got mo' sense."
}
]
|
15843 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All I ask, said Miss Sally Ruth sharply,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Because no man, suh, could live under the same roof with even his pictured semblance, and not be the bettah fo' it, said the major earnestly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know. I've got to live with him myself. When I'm fair to middlin' he's in the dinin' room. When I've skidded off the straight an' narrow path I lock him up in the parlor, an' at such times I sleep out on the po'ch. But when I'm at peace with man an' God I take him into my bedroom an' look at him befo' retirin'. He's about as easy to live with as the Angel Gabriel, but he's mighty bracin', Marse Robert is: mighty bracin'!"
}
]
|
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