human
Is that not beautiful, Mildred?
gpt
Jack! The exclamation in amazed tones as the girl sat up alertly in her wheeled chair.
human
I was just wondering if you had come. When did you arrive?
gpt
I don’t know, he answered slowly.
human
Do you see that angel?
gpt
Indeed I do. That is my angel.
human
Our angel then. Let me share it.
gpt
You shall, replied the girl generously. She waited a moment in smiling silence;
human
she added at last.
gpt
That is mine. Haven’t you had it a good while, considering it is a loan?
human
Have I? Well,
gpt
I am in dreamland, Mildred. I am glad to meet you here, whether you are a reality or not.
human
Oh! You remind me of those creepy shades in Vedder’s picture where one asks the other who he is and the second answers shiverily that he doesn’t know. ’I only died last night,’ is what he was inconsiderate enough to reply. I have never forgiven him.
gpt
This is a sort of No Man’s Land too, he answered,
human
I see the spell of the White City is upon you, else you would certainly express some surprise at finding me alone.
gpt
It is only one of the good and wonderful things that have befallen me to-night. It seems perfectly natural. I needed you, Mildred. I needed some tie to the time in which life was worth living to assure me that it is so still, and that there is perhaps more use in it than there would be in sinking into the opal water and dying rapturously in this enchanted place.
human
Why Jack, kindred spirit; you have it as severely as we have!
gpt
Are you going to take it away again immediately? he inquired, slowly waking to the situation.
human
I was enjoying holding it before more than I realized until I was bereft. One must have sympathy in a place like this.
gpt
Oh I know it, she said, speaking hastily as she withdrew her hand and looked over her shoulder apprehensively,
human
I trust the Liberal Arts entrance is a sufficiently ambiguous term to detain our friend some time, returned Jack.
gpt
Isn’t there some white magic that could be practiced on him? Of course no black art would be possible here, but I must say I should have to come down by easy stages before I could converse with Ogden to-night, and I don’t want to leave you.
human
I don’t want you to, either. I—I especially don’t. And I told Mr. Ogden that if we met you here I should have to go with you— Yes, I put it that way, for I told him we expected you, and it wasn’t quite the thing for me to come away; but of course I hadn’t the least idea we _should_ meet you.
gpt
And you told him that too, I suppose, remarked Jack dryly, all his dreaminess departed.
human
You declared it would be your duty to go with me if we did meet, but of course such a calamity for Ogden was improbable. I know just how you put it. Girls know how to smooth a man the right way. Now that we have met, and Ogden is out of the way, you tell me you especially want me to remain with you, and don’t want him.
gpt
Where is our angel?
human
Vanished! exclaimed Mildred.
gpt
Frightened back by your naughty temper just as she was about to fly down to us.
human
I don’t like to think of you as the least bit of a coquette,
gpt
Then don’t. It is extremely disrespectful. Oh, Mr. Ogden, you are back again. The unexpected always happens, you see, and truth is stranger than fiction. Here is Mr. Van Tassel, after all.
human
Well, Jack. The two men greeted each other, each endeavoring to conceal his dissatisfaction.
gpt
It is possible to find a needle in the haymow, then, said Ogden.
human
Miss Bryant told me you were expected about now. Your first visit? What do you think of our little show?
gpt
Can’t say yet, returned Jack shortly.
human
I am just going to see another part of it.
gpt
The fireworks, I suppose. They will start, now the fountains have stopped.
human
Fireworks? No! exclaimed Van Tassel in genuine repugnance. What sacrilege for pyrotechnics to paint the lily! His eyes fell upon a revolving globe of light inside a window of the Electricity Building. Its color changed with each revolution.
gpt
I think I will wander over in that direction,
human
The fireworks are always fine, remarked Mildred.
gpt
Are you sure you would not prefer to come to the lake shore and see them? The reflections in the water give beautiful effects.
human
Oh, don’t rise, Miss Bryant, begged Ogden hastily.
gpt
I will find our pusher. The rest of the party did understand that we were to come to the Liberal Arts entrance. They will meet us at Baker’s Chocolate House.
human
Don’t let me detain you,