human
Prince Nimbsch is courting you. People are talking about it.
gpt
Nonsense! Erika rejoins, running her fingers over the keys.
human
He is only amusing himself.
gpt
H'm! he seems to me to be very much in earnest, murmurs the old lady;
human
Grandmother! she exclaims, half laughing,
gpt
A boy? He is full four years older than you; and I need not remind you that you are no child. At all events, you must consider well----
human
Before I enter into another engagement, Erika interrupts her.
gpt
I promise you I will; nay, more than that, I promise you solemnly that I will not engage myself to Prince Nimbsch.
human
In fact, I must confess that I do not think him your equal. There is a certain relief in the old lady's tone, although she adds, with some hesitation,
gpt
But the position is tempting, very tempting.
human
Ah, grandmother! Erika exclaims, with reproach in her tone, as, rising, she puts her arm around the old Countess's shoulder and kisses her gray head,
gpt
As if you knew yourself, my poor, dear child!
human
I know myself so far, Erika declares,
gpt
Oh, that was quite another thing! her grandmother sighs.
human
Your marriage with Lord Langley would have been positively unnatural; but Prince Helmy Nimbsch is a fine, gallant young fellow.
gpt
It all amounts to the same thing: old or young, he is a man whom I do not love, and never could love.
human
Are you beginning upon that? Love? I thought you had more sense. Love!--love! Heaven preserve you from that disease! The only sound foundations for a happy marriage are unbounded esteem and warm sympathy: anything more is an evil.
gpt
No respectable woman should indulge in passion. Passion is an intoxication, and nausea is sure to follow upon intoxication. Therefore a respectable woman, who can at the most indulge but once in such intoxication, condemns herself, after a short period of bliss, to nausea for the rest of her life. Only the unprincipled woman who cures her nausea by a fresh passion can permit herself such indulgence. It is all nonsense for one of us.