human
Well, then, this money, said she, one day, in Worse's office,
gpt
Yes, in addition to your share in the business, added Worse, in explanation;
human
My future husband will surely allow me to manage my own property,
gpt
It is to be hoped he will; but, as you perhaps know, in the event of your marrying, you will lose the entire control.
human
Then I will never marry!
gpt
I am of opinion myself that you might do something better than marriage,
human
How I envy you your clear intelligent head! said she, somewhat scornfully.
gpt
You lay out for yourself some plan or another in life, and then your object is forthwith accomplished. You quietly follow your plans, and in the same way you expect that those to whom you give your advice, will follow it without wavering. You are just like father. You really are too precise.
human
I regard that as the greatest compliment I have ever received,
gpt
But father was in many respects an old-fashioned and somewhat prejudiced man. It was just these very modern ideas that you find so attractive, which were to him strange or even positively distasteful.
human
Consul Garman, said Worse, rising from his chair,
gpt
But was not my grandfather a remarkable man? Don't you think so?
human
I will tell you my opinion, Miss Garman. He was a man who lived in a time to which he was suited, and in which, on the whole, existence was far more easy.
gpt
You mean to say, then, that existence was easier in those times than in the present?
human
Yes, I am sure of it, continued Worse, pacing hurriedly up and down the room, as was his custom when he was excited.
gpt
Do you not see how existence becomes more difficult with each year as it passes? New discoveries and experiences are springing up every hour, and doubts and inquiry are burrowing under, and undermining the whole fabric. Revered and well-grounded truths are falling to the ground, and those who are too timid to advance with the times, are gathering confusedly about the rotten framework, supporting, preserving, and terrified, denouncing youth, and predicting the destruction of society. Your grandfather stood on the very summit of the cultivation of his day, living as he did in a state of society which was peaceful and conscious of its security, with aristocratic intelligence above and aristocratic ignorance below. Your father, on the other hand, had grown to manhood when the movement reached us, and he had already a fixed understanding as to his own line in life, when the new ideas came streaming in upon him. Then followed the long and painful struggle. But we who are a generation younger, and who enter upon life from school, with the old maxims only half rooted in our minds, feel the whole fabric tottering. Doubt and uncertainty reign on every side, and we find ourselves now in a state of eager expectation, and now plunged in gloomy apprehension. Wheresoever we place our foot, the ground gives way beneath us, and if we wish to sit down and rest awhile, the chair is drawn from under us by some invisible hand. Thus are we whirled to and fro in a struggle for which we were never prepared, and in which numbers of us miserably perish. Fathers scold and threaten, while mothers weep because we have forsaken the traditions of our childhood. Bitter words and party names are caught up in the continuous strife, and find their way into family life; the one no longer understands the motives of the other; we stand railing at each other in the pitchy darkness; no distinction is made between sincere conviction and restless love of change. All strive blindly together, whilst society becomes interwoven with a tissue of hostility, mistrust, falsehood, and hypocrisy.
human
I cannot imagine how you can be content with your present existence, so silent and so reserved, when such a tumult of thought is passing through your brain.
gpt
I have a simple remedy, which I have learnt from my mother, and which your father also employed--and that is, work. To keep at it from morning to evening; to begin the day with a large packet of foreign letters here on my desk, and to leave off in the evening, tired but content--content for that day. That is my remedy--that keeps the life in me; so far it suffices; higher I cannot attain.
human
I said a short time ago that I envied you your calm and logical mind. I now regret the tone in which the words were spoken. I often, somehow or another, I don't know why, but I often find myself speaking to you somewhat--
gpt
Somewhat plainly, you mean,
human
May I hope it is because you think me worthy of your confidence?
gpt
Well, said Rachel,
human
My opinion about you, Miss Garman, has always been, that the aimless life a lady in your position is obliged to lead here at home, must sooner or later become unbearable to you.
gpt
I cannot work,
human
Well, but at least you can try.
gpt
How am I to begin? You remember that time when father would not receive my offer of assistance.
human
Your father did not understand you; nor will you find it easy to discover satisfactory employment in your own country. But travel, look around you. You are rich and independent, and there are other lands where work is to be had, and in them you ought to find suitable occupation.
gpt
Do you really advise me to travel elsewhere, Mr. Worse?
human
Yes; that is to say--yes, I think it would be best for you. Here you have little opportunity of development, and, to speak plainly, I think you ought to travel.
gpt
But where shall I go--a lonely woman without friends? I am afraid you over-estimate my powers,
human
I may as well tell you what I think now, he began, hurriedly.
gpt
I have some acquaintances in Paris. In fact, an American firm--Barnett Brothers they are called--who have a house in Paris; and Mr. Frederick Barnett is a personal friend of mine.
human
You seem to have been arranging to get rid of me for some time, said Rachel;