human
Well, Harold Wilkins says----
gpt
I don't see why you girls always scoff so at Harold Wilkins, said Fred, slightly aggrieved,
human
He needs no further worshippers,
gpt
He laughs at your pet ideas,
human
Break it gently, Fred, gently.
gpt
He thinks that a true woman esteems it her highest privilege to--well, to be like Mrs. Gordon.
human
Wise and learned youth!
gpt
He says, continued Fred, determined not to spare those who were so overbearing in their scorn,
human
Laughter, observed Fred, when he could make himself heard,
gpt
It does,
human
Well, so I said to Wilkins, as a matter of fact, with my nose in the air, on your behalf, and Wilkins replied, 'Oh, it's all very well while girls are young and good-looking to be so high and mighty, but some day, when they are left out in the cold, and all their friends married, they may sing a different tune.' Feeling there was something in this remark, Fred continued,
gpt
I raised my nose two inches higher, and adopted the argument that _I_ also resort to _in extremis_. I laughed. 'Well, my dear fellow,' Wilkins observed calmly, 'I mean no offence, but what on earth is a girl to do with herself if she _doesn't_ marry?'
human
What did you reply?
gpt
Oh, I said that was an unimportant detail, and changed the subject.
human
Harold Wilkins has a practical mind, she observed.
gpt
After all, he is right, when you come to consider it.
human
We may as well be candid, said Hadria.
gpt
There _is_ uncommonly little that a girl can do (or rather that people will let her do) unless she marries, and that is why she so often does marry as a mere matter of business. But I wish Harold Wilkins would remember that fact, instead of insisting that it is our inherent and particular nature that urges us, one and all, to the career of Mrs. Gordon.