human
Uncle is last, you see, she said.
gpt
I knew he would be.
human
I was afraid I might be, he replied.
gpt
A clock struck before I expected it. I suppose my watch loses, but I hadn't found it out.
human
Oh, I ought to have told you, she exclaimed penitently.
gpt
That is the great clock in the hall, and it is always kept ten minutes fast. Uncle likes it for a warning. So when it strikes, he says, 'That's the hall clock; then there's plenty of time, plenty of time, I'll just finish this.' And he goes on quite happily.
human
I fancied somehow that Mr. Hayes was a very punctual man.
gpt
Because he talks so much about it. I think he reminds other people for fear they should remind him. When I first came he was always saying, 'Don't be late,' till I was quite frightened lest I should be. I couldn't believe it when he said, 'Don't be late,' and then wasn't ready.
human
You are not so particular now?
gpt
Oh yes, I am, she answered very seriously.
human
It doesn't do to be late if you are the housekeeper, you know.
gpt
Of course not; but I never was, he replied, in a respectful tone.
human
How long is it since you came here?
gpt
I came with my mother to see uncle a great many years ago, but I only came to live here last October. Uncle wanted somebody. He said it was dull.
human
I should think it was. Isn't it dull for you?
gpt
Sometimes, said Barbara.
human
It isn't at all like home. That's a little house with a great many people in it--father and mother, and all my brothers and sisters, and father's pupils. And this is a big house with nobody in it.
gpt
Till you came,
human
Well, there's uncle, said Barbara with a smile,
gpt
And the other was more than ten minutes fast.
human
Yes, it gains. Do you know, said Barbara,
gpt
I always feel as if the great clock were _the_ time, so when it fairly runs away into the future and I have to stop it, to let the world come up with it again, it seems to me almost as if I stopped my own life too.
human
Some people would be uncommonly glad to do that, said Harding;
gpt
Well, I don't mind for a quarter of an hour. But I don't want it to go back, really. Not back to pinafores and the schoolroom,