human
Come here, Mary Lee, I have a mighty big piece of news to tell you, cried Nan.
gpt
I'm going to tell you first.
human
You come here, said Mary Lee.
gpt
I can't put the duck down till she gets dry.
human
How ridiculous! As if a duck cared whether she was wet or dry, said Nan, going up and giving the duck a friendly poke, eliciting a remonstrative
gpt
Quack!
human
You'd care if you had fallen into a slop barrel and had to be dipped out in a bucket and lathered all over and rinsed off,
gpt
I wouldn't be so foolish as to fall into a slop barrel in the first place. Ducks are such greedy things. I don't see how she got up there.
human
She walked up a board like anybody,
gpt
Well, anywhere that she could swim would have done for her bath. It was silly to go through all that fuss of bathing her when she's just a duck that loves water like any other duck.
human
What is your news? asked Mary Lee, changing the subject.
gpt
I don't believe it's anything much. You always get so excited over trifles.
human
I reckon you won't call this a trifle, replied Nan,
gpt
You're making it all up just to fool me.
human
I'm not, either. What in the world would I want to do that for? It's true, every word of it. You can ask mother if it isn't.
gpt
What's she going for?
human
Oh, just because. Grown people have their reasons for doing things and we can't always be told them,
gpt
Do you know why?
human
Maybe I do, and maybe I don't.
gpt
If you do, I think you are downright mean not to tell me. I'm 'most as old as you, and she's my mother as much as she is yours.
human
Well, anyhow, I shan't tell.
gpt
You are altogether too high and mighty, Nancy Weston Corner, said Mary Lee, quite outraged by Nan's refusal.
human
You're a scurvy old pullet, so there!
gpt
I like your way of calling names, returned Nan contemptuously.
human
I should think any one could tell that you had been near a slop barrel; you talk like it.
gpt
I tried to tell Mary Lee without saying why, she began breathlessly,
human
I think we shall have to tell her, said Mrs. Corner.
gpt
I did not realize that it might be difficult for you.
human
She's coming now,
gpt
Mother, is it true that you are going away?
human
Yes, dear child.
gpt
What for? Nan was so mean and wouldn't tell me.
human
I didn't give Nan permission to tell you why I was going.
gpt
She needn't have been so disagreeable about it though, said Mary Lee.
human
Why didn't she say that you told her not to tell?
gpt
You didn't give me a chance, put in Nan.
human
You called me a scurvy old pullet before I could explain.
gpt
What a name, Mary Lee, said Mrs. Corner reprovingly.
human
Where did you hear it?
gpt
Phil says it.
human
Don't say it again. If you lose your temper like that and cannot bridle your tongue, I am afraid your mother will have many sorry moments while she is away trying to regain her health.
gpt
Are you ill, mother?
human
Not very, but I may be if I do not have a change of climate, so I am going to take a trip. I have hardly left this place for eight years and more. I shall come back trig as a trivet, Mary Lee, so don't be troubled about me.