human
There! said Monsieur Revel, when she, flew to tell him,
gpt
I am very glad, declared Euphrosyne.
human
It is a pretty sight to amuse you with, every morning when you wake. It is kind of Raphael; and of the abbess too.
gpt
I am pleased that the abbess and you should be good friends, Euphrosyne, because--Ah! that is the way, he said, in a mortified tone, and throwing himself back in his chair, as he followed with his eyes the flittings of the girl about the room, after her birds.
human
You have got your own way with everybody, and we have spoiled you; and there is no speaking to you upon a subject that you do not like. You will not hear, though it is a thing that lies heavy at the heart of a dying old man.
gpt
I will hear you, if you talk to me all my life,
human
And if you hear me, you will not give me a grave, steady answer.
gpt
Try me, said she, brushing away the gathering tears.
human
I am not crying about anything you are going to say; but only because--Oh, grandpapa! how could you think I would not listen to you?
gpt
Well, well, my love! I see that you are willing now. You remember your promise to enter the convent, if I desired it.
human
Yes.
gpt
You talk of nothing being changed by our alarm, two days ago, because this table stands in the middle of the room, and the ants and beetles have not carried off your pretty work. Hey!
human
May I speak, grandpapa?
gpt
Speak.
human
I said so because nobody's house is burnt, or even robbed; and nobody has been killed, or even hurt.
gpt
But, nevertheless, there is a great change. Our friends, my old friends, all whom I feel I could rely upon in case of need, are gone to France with Hedouville.
human
Oh, grandpapa! very few whites are gone--they were chiefly mulattoes who went with Hedouville; and so many whites remain! And though they are not, except, perhaps, Monsieur Critois, exactly our friends, yet we can easily make acquaintance with them.
gpt
No, no, child. If they were not upstarts, as some of them are, and others returned emigrants, of whom I know nothing, it is too late now for me to make now friends. My old companions are gone, and the place is a desert to me.
human
If you feel it so now, what will it be when I am shut up in the convent, and you will hardly ever see me?
gpt
That is no affair of yours, child. I choose that you should go.
human
Whose affair is it, if it is not mine? I am your grandchild--your only one; and it is my business, and the greatest pleasure I have in the world, to be with you, and wait upon you. If I leave you, I shall hear my poor mother reproaching me all day long. Every morning at my lessons, every night at my prayers, I shall hear her saying, `Where is your grandfather? How dare you desert him when he has only you left?' Grandpapa, I shall be afraid to sleep alone. I shall learn to be afraid of my blessed mother.
gpt
It is time you were sent somewhere to learn your duty, I think. We are at a bad pass enough; but there must be some one in the colony who can tell you that it is your duty to obey your grandfather--that it is your duty to perform what you promised him.
human
I can preach that myself, grandpapa, when there is nobody else who can do it better. It is just what I have been teaching little Babet, this month past. I have no more to learn about that; but I will tell you what I do want to learn--whether you are most afraid of my growing up ignorant, or--(do just let me finish, and then we shall agree charmingly, I dare say)--whether you are most afraid of my growing up ignorant, or unsteady, or ill-mannered, or wicked, or what? As for being unsafe, I do not believe a word of that.
gpt
Everything--all these things, child. I am afraid of them all.
human
What, all! What a dreadfully unpromising creature I must be!
gpt
You know you must be very ignorant. You have had no one to teach you anything.
human
Then I will go to the convent to study for four, six, eight, twelve hours a day. I shall soon have learned everything in the world at that rate: and yet I can go on singing to you in the evenings, and bringing your coffee in the mornings. Twelve hours' study a day may perhaps make me steady, too. That was the next thing, was it not?
gpt
Now have done. Say only one thing more--that you will perform your promise.
human
That is a thing of course; so I may just ask one other thing. Who is to wait upon you in my place? Ah! I see you have not fixed upon any one yet; and, let me tell you, it will be no easy matter to find one who makes coffee as I do. Then, you have been waited upon by a slave all your life. Yes, you have; and you have a slave now sitting at your knee. People do not like being slaves now-a-days--nobody but me. Now I like it of all things. So, what a pity to change!
gpt
I know, said the old man, sighing,
human
Oh, grandpapa! Stop, grandpapa! I cannot bear it, cried the sobbing girl.
gpt
I never will joke again, if you do not see that it is because I love you so, that I will venture anything rather than leave you. We all love you dearly. Pierre would not for the world live with anybody else. You know he would not. And that is just what I feel. But I will do everything you wish. I will never refuse again--I will never jest, or try, even for your own sake, to prevent your having all your own way. Only be so kind, grandpapa, as never to say anything against yourself again. Nobody else would dare to do such a thing to me, and I cannot bear it.
human
Well, well, love! I see now that no one has been babbling to you. We will never quarrel any more. You will do as I wish, and we will have no more disputing. Are they bringing our coffee?