human
Mr. Griggs, she said, turning from his eyes and looking into the piano,
gpt
Are you not sure of me? he asked.
human
I think you might be, by this time. We were just saying that we had known each other so long.
gpt
Yes. But--all sorts of things have happened in that time, you know. I am not the same as I was when I first knew you.
human
No. You are married. That is one great difference.
gpt
Too great, said she.
human
Honestly, do you think me improved since my marriage?
gpt
Improved? No. Why should you improve? You are just what you were meant to be, as you always were.
human
I know. You called me a perfect woman a little while ago, and you said my surroundings were imperfect. You must have meant that they did not suit me, or that I did not suit them. Which was it?
gpt
They ought to suit you, said Griggs.
human
If they do not, it is not your fault.
gpt
But I might have done something to make them suit me. I sometimes think that I have not treated them properly.
human
Why should you blame yourself? You did not make them, and they cannot unmake you. You have a right to be yourself. Everybody has. It is the first right. Your surroundings owe you more than you owe to them, because you are what you are, and they are not what they ought to be. Let them bear the blame. As for not treating them properly, no one could accuse you of that.
gpt
I do not know--some one might. People are so strange, sometimes.