human
I'll have the architect come and see you about these,
gpt
What! said she, in apparent astonishment--
human
Ah--well, he stammered,
gpt
I didn't know--that is---- Yes, from Boston! We want these matters as you want them, you know, if it were from Paris or Calcutta. And I think there should be some provision for prism-glass to light up the library. It could be cut in right there on that north exposure; don't you think so?
human
Oh, yes, and what an improvement it will be! she replied.
gpt
And may I have all the editions of Browning I want, even if I couldn't explain what _Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came_ means?
human
Oh, does that point puzzle you? exclaimed Florian, greeting the allusion to Browning as the war-horse welcomes the battle.
gpt
Then you have never chanced to run across the first edition of Child's _Scottish Ballads_. You get the story there, of Childe Roland following up the quest for his sister, shut up by enchantment in the Dark Tower, in searching for which his brothers--Cuthbert and Giles, you remember, and the rest of 'The Band'--had been lost. He must blow a certain horn before it, in a certain way--you know how it goes, 'Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set!' It's quite obvious when you know the story, and not a bit of an enigma. The line in _Lear_ shows that the verses must have been commonly sung in Shakespeare's time----
human
Yes, said she,
gpt
I can see now how the 'Dark Tower' lightens up. I must read it again in the light of this explanation of yours. Shall we read it together, soon?
human
Oh, by all means! said he.
gpt
Only I warn you I never tire when I find any one who will study Browning with me. I tried to read _The Ring and the Book_ with a dear friend once, and reading my favorite part, 'Giuseppe Caponsacchi,' as I raised my eyes after that heartbreaking finale, 'O, great, just, good God! Miserable me!' I saw she was dozing. Since then, I read Browning with his lovers only----
human
Yes, you are right in that. But, Eugene, she exclaimed,