human
That sounds almost as if you had things to bear.
gpt
Well, haven't I? After all, it's not very pleasant to have one's own father make such a ridiculous fool of himself as my father is doing. I suppose you saw that article in the _Express_ yesterday?
human
Yes, a very decent little article; the papers have behaved very well on the whole, considering that he is, well--your mother's husband.
gpt
Oh, mother's books you mean! Yes, I suppose that does make it a little better known, the divorce business, I mean--poor mother!
human
Why poor mother, Grisel?
gpt
The books, you know, she returned vaguely, stirring her tea.
human
They--they are so awful, John.
gpt
Are they?
human
Yes. So old-fashioned and sentimental and utterly unreal. I have not been able to get through one for years.
gpt
Haven't you? he answered reflectively.
human
I read one the other day, and, thanks I suppose to my own old-fashionedness and sentimentality, I quite liked it.
gpt
Not really! What was it?
human
It was called, I think, 'The Under Secretary.'
gpt
Yes, that's one of the best ones, and you know it used to be very popular. The later ones are awful, and, oh, John, the girl's beautiful face was filled with real sympathy,
human
Yes, I looked at that one day somewhere. It struck me as being very pathetic, Grisel.
gpt
I suppose so, but then lots of other writers have changed with the times--advanced I mean--only mother seems to have stuck back in the eighties somewhere. It is not so much that her stories are bad, she went on with an air of disinterested criticism that rather jarred on her hearer,
human
Yes, I am not much of a novel reader, he said,
gpt
Yes, it is horrid. I began it, but mother wouldn't let me finish it. I love 'Haycocks,' don't you?
human
No. Of course it is beautifully written, but people with such undeveloped minds and such lack of knowledge of anything except turnips and sheep, don't interest me.
gpt
That is the one my mother likes. Yes, I know what you mean about the turnips, the girl added thoughtfully,