human
We could not have had anything more beautiful. And I owe a great deal of the perfection of the scene to you, since the season was in other hands. Allow me to express my utmost gratitude.
gpt
I am glad to be able to add to your pleasure in any way, she answers, with a kind of careless joy.
human
Possibly I may add to your displeasure. May I make a confession?
gpt
To me?
human
Yes, to you. I shall bind you by all manner of promises, but the murder must out.
gpt
Is it as grave as that?
human
Yes. If you had not gone by the heats and caprices of youthful passion, you would be less able to extend your mantle of charity. I care enough for your good opinion and for that of your family not to be placed in a false light by the imprudence of youth,--shall we call it that?
gpt
I cannot imagine,
human
Can you not? Then I give the young man credit for a degree of prudence I was fearful he did not possess.
gpt
Oh, he says, with a curious sense of relief,
human
Floyd, in a low, confidential tone, and she so rarely gives him his Christian name that he is struck with her beautiful utterance of it,
gpt
I want you to do me this justice at least, to let me stand higher in your estimation than that of a mere silly coquette, who makes a bid for the admiration of men in general. There was a time when it might have turned my head a little, but then I had no _general_ admiration to tempt me. I have been friendly with Eugene, as any woman so much older might be, and the regard he has for me is not love at all, but just now he cannot see the difference. He feels bitter because he cannot have matters as he fancies he would like, and in a few years he will be most grateful for the cruelty, as he calls it.
human
Oh, Floyd says, with a sense of shame,
gpt
You surely do not think I would allow him to make an idiot of himself! she replies, with an almost stinging disdain.
human
I should not want him to remember that of me. One may make a mistake in youth, or commit an error, but with added years there would be small excuse. I had a truer regard for him, as well as myself. It was wiser to quench the flame before it reached that height, and she smiles with a sense of approval.
gpt
So if you see us at sword's points, you will know that the disease has reached the crisis, and you may reasonably expect an improvement. Indeed, it is time he turned his attention to other matters. Shall you be able to make a business man of him?
human
I am afraid not,
gpt
Now that I have confessed, I feel quite free, she begins, in a tone of relief.
human
I wanted the matter settled before I came up here, and I did want to keep your good opinion, if indeed you have a good opinion of me.
gpt
I can do without your approval, since I may have forfeited it in some way, yet I would rather have it. You are free to give or to withhold.
human
I think, he says, steadily,