human
At least, the young man qualified, with a curious mixture of aggressiveness and intense mortification,
gpt
I'm awfully sorry, said Sharlee--
human
You do not appear to grasp the fact that, apart from any considerations of that sort, this is an unpleasant, a most offensive thing to have happen--
gpt
Oh, but that is just what it isn't, Mr. Queed, said Sharlee, who quite failed to appreciate his morbid tenderness for even the least of his intellectual offspring.
human
You have taken no pride in the newspaper work; you look down on it as altogether beneath you. You cannot mind this in any personal way--
gpt
I mind it, said he,
human
Mr. Queed, if you had tried to write nursery rhymes and--failed, would you have taken it to heart?
gpt
Never mind arguing it. In fact, I don't know that I could explain it to you in a thoroughly logical and convincing way. The central fact, the concrete thing, is that I do object most decidedly. I have spent too much time in equipping myself to express valuable ideas in discriminating language to be kicked out of a second-rate newspaper office like an incompetent office-boy. Of course I shall not submit to it.
human
Do you care to tell me what you mean to do?
gpt
Do! He hit the door-post a sudden blow with an unexpectedly large hand.
human
I shall have myself elected editor of the _Post_.
gpt
But--but--but-- said the girl, taken aback by the largeness of this order--
human
But you don't expect to oust Colonel Cowles?
gpt
We are not necessarily speaking of to-morrow or next day. An actuary will tell you that I am likely to outlive Colonel Cowles. I mean, first, to have my dismissal recalled, and, second, to be made regular assistant editor at three times my present salary. That is my immediate reply to the directors of the Post. I am willing to let the editorship wait till old Cowles dies.
human
Tell me, said Sharlee,
gpt
He looked past her out of the window, and his light gray eyes filled with an indescribable bitterness.
human
And to have the editorship, he thought out loud,
gpt
I must unlearn everything that I know about writing, and deliberately learn to write like a demagogic ass.