human
You never looked so well in your life, she exclaimed with sincerity.
gpt
I declare, Lottie, you are back to the sprightliness of girlhood. Paris certainly agrees with you.
human
I have had two great rejuvenators this year--Paris and a good conscience.
gpt
Do they go together, Lottie?
human
Only when one is still young, dear. I shouldn’t dare recommend them to mature persons.
gpt
You felt no risk in the matter yourself?
human
Not in the least, laughed Lottie, pushing down her slender girdle. But she was too happy to quarrel and had returned resolved to have only friends.
gpt
You must tell me all about poor Robert. She turned, as she spoke to Dolly, with a sudden sympathy in her tender eyes.
human
I have thought so much about his troubles. And I am just crazy to see the poor fellow. What is he doing?
gpt
He is in town for a few days, just now. But he has been away for two months--with the yacht.
human
Where?
gpt
No one knows. Somewhere along the coast, I suppose.
human
With whom?
gpt
Alone.
human
What could I possibly do that I haven’t done? demanded Dolly.
gpt
No one can do a thing with Robert when he is set. I have simply _had_ to give up.
human
You _mustn’t_ give up, protested Lottie courageously.
gpt
It is just the giving up that ruins everything. Personally, _I_ am convinced that no one can long remain insensible to genuine and sincere sympathy. And certainly no one could accuse poor Robert of being unresponsive.
human
Certainly not--if you couldn’t,
gpt
Now, Fritzie dear, you are _not_ going to be unkind to me. I put myself entirely out of the case. It is something we ought all to work for together. It is our duty, I think.
human
Truly, it would be depressing to _any_ one to come back to a gay circle and find it broken up in the way ours is. We can’t help the past. Its sorrows belong to it alone. We must let the dead bury the dead and all work together to restore the old spirit when everybody was happy--don’t you feel so, Arthur?
gpt
Certainly we should. And I hope you will be successful, Lottie, in pulling things together.
human
Robert is at home now, isn’t he?
gpt
He has been at home a fortnight, returned Arthur,
human
I think it was very nice of Robert to confer such an honor on Nelson, observed Lottie simply,
gpt
she continued, rising to go.
human
And I want to see what the constant kindness he extends to others will do if extended to him.
gpt
She also wants to see, suggested Fritzie to Imogene, as Dolly and Arthur walked with Lottie to the door,
human
Now, Fritzie!
gpt
If Robert Kimberly, blurted Fritzie hotly,
human
Again? When did he ever take up with her?
gpt
I don’t care. You never can tell what a man will do.
human
Dolly entertains the Nelsons to-morrow evening, and Robert will be asked very particularly to come.