human
Charlotte, he said,
gpt
I have made up my mind.
human
It sounds very momentous, I teased. He decided years ago that I was grave, fastidious, whimsical, aloof and (I suspect) a little faded. I have long given up fighting my own battle (to be known) because I realise that Delancey never revises the passports given to old ideas. There is always, to him, something a little bit sacred about the accepted.
gpt
I can't go on with it any longer,
human
Go on with what?
gpt
My damned stories.
human
How ungrateful you are, I murmured, thinking of the lacquer cabinets,
gpt
Be quiet, he said.
human
I came to you because I knew that you would understand.
gpt
You are trying to blackmail me.
human
Do be serious, he pleaded.
gpt
I am going to give all that up. I have determined to settle down and dedicate myself entirely to my book.
human
But, I expostulated,
gpt
I have thought of everything, he said,
human
I shall be sacrificing 5,000 pounds a year, but what is 5,000 pounds a year?
gpt
I don't know.
human
You see, Charlotte, he dropped the noble for the confidential,
gpt
I have got things to say, things that are vital to me. I couldn't put them in my other work. How could I? It would have seemed--you will think me ridiculous--a kind of prostitution.
human
Yes,
gpt
But they were clamouring for expression all the time. And I have kept them down till I couldn't keep them down any longer. Of course, I know my book won't be a success--a popular success, I mean--but it won't have been written for the multitude but for the few--the people who really care, who really understand. It may be even thought, there was exultation in his voice,
human
Well, I said,
gpt
I think it is very brave of you--and quite right. Truly I do.
human
I think I shall take a tiny cottage in a fishing village in Devonshire,