human
Nine o'clock, he announced presently.
gpt
Bring me your difficulties.
human
You have a fundamental lack of acquaintance with Latin grammar, Miss--Miss Fifi. You badly need--
gpt
Why don't you call me Fifi, Mr. Queed? That's what all my friends call me.
human
My dear young lady! _I'm_ not your friend.
gpt
I--I thought you liked me--from your being so good about helping me with my lessons--and everything.
human
I do like you--in a way. Yes--in that way--I like you very well. I will call you F--Fifi, if you wish. But--friends! Oh, no! They take up more time than such a man as I can afford.
gpt
I don't think I would take up one bit more time as your friend than I do now,
human
Oh, I know what I'm talking about, I assure you, said the possessor of two friends in New York.
gpt
I have threshed the whole question out in a practical way.
human
Suppose, said Fifi,
gpt
Oh, I suppose so! Yes, yes!
human
But don't--don't you want to have people like you and be your friend?
gpt
My dear young lady, it is not a question of what I want. I was not put here in the world to frivol through a life of gross pleasure. I have serious work to do in the service of humankind, and I can do it only by rigid concentration and ruthless elimination of the unessential. Surely you can grasp that?
human
But--if you died to-morrow, said Fifi, fearfully fascinated by this aspect of the young man's majestic isolation,--
gpt
Really, I've never thought of it, but doubtless my two friends in New York would be sorry after their fashion. They, I believe, are all.
human
No they aren't! There's somebody else!
gpt
Who?
human
I thought you knew, she said, gazing at him with childlike directness.
gpt
Me.