human
Is your brother sick? Sarah Maitland asked her stepdaughter three or four days later.
gpt
He hasn't been at his desk since Monday. What's the matter with him?
human
He is worried about something, Mamma.
gpt
Worried? What on earth has _he_ got to worry him? she grunted. In her own worry she had come across the hall to speak to Nannie, and find out, if she could, something about Blair. As she turned to go back to the dining-room, a little more uneasy than when she came in, her eye fell on that picture which Blair had left, a small oasis in the desert of Nannie's parlor, and with her hand on the door-knob she paused to look at it. The sun was lying on the dark oblong, and in those illuminated depths maternity was glowing like a jewel. Sarah Maitland saw no art, but she saw divine things. She bent forward and looked deep into the picture; suddenly her eyes smiled until her whole face softened.
human
Why, look at his little foot, she said, under her breath;
gpt
She was silent for a moment; then she spoke as if to herself:
human
When Blair was as big as that, I bought him a pair of green morocco slippers. I don't suppose you remember them, Nannie? They buttoned round the ankle; they had white china buttons. He used to try to pick the buttons off. She smiled again vaguely; then blinked as if awakening from a dream, and blew a long bubbling sigh through her closed lips;
gpt
I can't imagine why he doesn't come to the office!
human
Debt again? she asked herself. But when, absorbed and irritable, Blair came into her office at the Works, and sat down at his desk to write endless letters that he tore up as soon as they were written, she did not ask for any explanation. She merely told Robert Ferguson to tell the bookkeeper to make a change in the pay-roll.
gpt
I'm going to raise Blair's salary,