human
It is an emergency case--operation--out in the country. Impossible to take the patient to the hospital; everything must be made ready on the spot. Dr. Burns is to come for me in an hour. He will let me stay with the case. It's work, Mrs. Burns; real work again, at last!
gpt
You extraordinary girl! A débutante, going to a party again, after enforced confinement at home, couldn't be gayer about it. I knew you loved your work, but I didn't know you loved it like that!
human
Didn't you? Her hands moving swiftly, she seemed not to stop and think what was going to be wanted, she went from one preparation to another with swift, sure knowledge.
gpt
I'm not sure I did, myself, until I had to stop and take what was really just a long vacation, with hardly a thing to do. Vacations are very pleasant--for a while--but they may last too long.
human
Evidently Dr. Leaver thought so, too. He seemed ready enough for work again.
gpt
Of course he was. And work--and only work--will put him quite back where he was before the breakdown. I fully believe, Mrs. Burns, that labour is a condition of healthy life. And of the two evils, too much labour or too much idleness, the latter is the greater.
human
You make me feel a drone,
gpt
You? Oh, no, Mrs. Burns. You do the prettiest work in the world, and the most necessary.
human
But yours is fine--wonderful.
gpt
Not fine, nor wonderful. Dr. Burns's work is that. Mine is just--supplementary.
human
But absolutely essential. How many times has he told me what he has owed you all these years for perfection of detail. He says he doubts if he himself could secure such perfection if it all depended upon his care.
gpt
I am glad to give him the best I can do,