human
Well, my dear, she said, taking the one comfortable chair in the studio,
gpt
I am back again, and I have enjoyed my journey very much; we will have all the travels this evening. You are looking splendid, Arnold!
human
I am very well indeed. And you, Clara? But I need not ask.
gpt
No, I am always well. I told you about dear Stella, did I not? I never had a more delightful companion.
human
So glad you liked her.
gpt
If only, Arnold, you would like her too. But I know --for Arnold changed color--
human
I know one must not interfere in these matters. But surely one may go so far with a young man one loves as to say, 'Here is a girl of a million.' There is not, Arnold, I declare, her equal anywhere; a clearer head I never met, or a better educated girl, or one who knows what a man can do, and how he can be helped to do it.
gpt
Thank you, Clara, Arnold said coldly;
human
I dare say I shall discover the young lady's perfections in time.
gpt
Not, I think, without some help. She is not an ordinary girl. You must draw her out, my dear boy.
human
I will, he said listlessly.
gpt
I will try to draw her out, if you like.
human
We talked a great deal of you, Arnold, Clara went on.
gpt
I confided to her some of my hopes and ambitions for you; and I am free to confess to you that she has greatly modified all my plans and calculations.
human
Oh! Arnold was interested in this
gpt
But, my dear Clara, I have my profession. I must follow my profession.
human
Surely--surely! Listen, Arnold, patiently. Anybody can become an artist--anybody, of course, who has the genius. And all kinds of people, gutter people, have the genius.
gpt
The sun, said Arnold, just as if he had been Lala Roy,
human
Quite so; and there is an immense enthusiasm for art everywhere; but there is no art leader. There is no one man recognized as the man most competent to speak on art of every kind. Think of that. It is Stella's idea entirely. This man, when he is found, will sway enormous authority; he will become, if he has a wife able to assist him, an immense social power.
gpt
And you want me to become that man?
human
Yes, Arnold. I do not see why you should not become that man. Cease to think of becoming President of the Royal Academy, yet go on painting; prove your genius, so as to command respect; cultivate the art of public speaking; and look about for a wife who will be your right hand. Think of this seriously. This is only a rough sketch, we can fill in the details afterward. But think of it. Oh, my dear boy! if I were only a man, and five-and-twenty, with such a chance before me! What a glorious career is yours, if you choose! But of course you will choose. Good gracious, Arnold! who is that?
gpt
It is no one you know, Clara.
human
One of your models? She rose and examined it more closely through her glasses.
gpt
The eyes are wonderful, Arnold. They are eyes I know. As if I could ever forget them! They are the same eyes, exactly the same eyes. I have never met with any like them before. They are the eyes of my poor, lost, betrayed Claude Deseret. Where did you pick up this girl, Arnold? Is she a common model?
human
Not at all. She is not a model. She is a young lady who teaches by correspondence. She is my tutor--of course I have so often talked to you about her--who taught me the science of Heraldry, and wrote me such charming letters.
gpt
Your tutor! You said your tutor was an old gentleman.
human
So I thought, Clara. But I was wrong. My tutor is a young lady, and this is her portrait, half-finished. It does not do her any kind of justice.
gpt
A young lady! She looked suspiciously at Arnold, whose telltale cheek flushed.
human
A young lady! Indeed! And you have made her acquaintance.
gpt
As you see, Clara; and she does me the honor to let me paint her portrait.
human
What is her name, Arnold?
gpt
She is a Miss Aglen.
human
Strange. The Deserets once intermarried with the Aglens. I wonder if she is any connection. They were Warwickshire Aglens. But it is impossible--a teacher by correspondence, a mere private governess! Who are her people?
gpt
She lives with her grandfather. I think her father was a tutor or journalist of some kind, but he is dead; and her grandfather keeps a second-hand bookshop in the King's Road close by.
human
A bookshop! But you said, Arnold, that she was a young lady.
gpt
So she is, Clara,
human
Arnold! for the first time in his life Arnold saw his cousin angry with him. She was constantly being angry with other people, but never before had she been angry with him.
gpt
Arnold, spare me this nonsense. If you have been playing with this shop-girl I cannot help it, and I beg that you will tell me no more about it, and do not, to my face, speak of her as a lady.
human
I have not been playing with her, I think, said Arnold gravely;
gpt
I have been very serious with her.
human
Everybody nowadays is a young lady. The girl who gives you a cup of tea in a shop; the girl who dances in the ballet; the girl who makes your dresses.
gpt
In that case, Clara, you need not mind my calling Miss Aglen a young lady.
human
There is one word left, at least: women of my class are gentlewomen.
gpt
Miss Aglen is a gentlewoman.
human
Arnold, look me in the face. My dear boy, tell me, are you mad? Oh, think of my poor unhappy Claude, what he did, and what he must have suffered!
gpt
I know what he did. I do not know what he suffered. My case, however, is different from his. I am not engaged to any one.
human
Arnold, think of the great scheme of life I have drawn out for you. My dear boy, would you throw that all away?
gpt
My dear, every man must shape his life for himself, or must live out the life shaped for him by his fate, not by his friends. What if I see a life more delightful to me than that of which you dream?
human
You talk of a delightful life, Arnold; I spoke of an honorable career.
gpt
Mine will be a life of quiet work and love. Yours, Clara, would be of noisy and troublesome work without love.
human
Without love, Arnold? You are infatuated.