human
Papa, says Miriam with a smile,
gpt
I should have recommended the immediate application of a strait waistcoat. But circumstances alter cases, as we have all lived to prove, and it's only your narrow-minded people who will never admit that they are in the wrong.
human
Do you remember how shocked you were when I told you to what use I should put Mr. Warburton's money if it ever came into my hands?
gpt
Ah, my dear, you never really understood the secret of my opposition to your little love affair. James, here, has a great deal to thank me for. I knew your disposition, dear, better than you knew it yourself. I knew that if your courtship were allowed to go on in a quiet, conventional, hum-drum sort of way, without any parental opposition to infuse a spice of romance and difficulty into the affair, you would never learn to care quite so much for James, or to value him so highly as you would do if your wishes were judiciously thwarted for a time. You like your husband all the better because you have had a difficulty in making him your husband. It is a sort of weakness by no means uncommon with your sex. As I said before, James has much to thank me for.
human
Trust papa for never being without an excuse!