human
Surely you are not uninterested in what is now called psychical research?
gpt
That depends, said Irene.
human
If I were a physician, I should like to watch the operation of the minds of 'sensitives' as a pathological study. But the experiments I have seen are merely exciting and unsettling, without the least good result, with a haunting notion that you are being tricked or deluded. It is as much as I can do to try and know my own mind, without reading the minds of others.
gpt
But you cannot help the endeavor to read the mind of a person with whom you are talking.
human
Oh, that is different. That is really an encounter of wits, for you know that the best part of a conversation is the things not said. What they call mindreading is a vulgar business compared to this. Don't you think so, Mr. King?
gpt
I think your sort of mind-reading is a good deal more interesting than the other, and he might have added, dangerous. For a man cannot attempt to find out what is in a woman's heart without a certain disturbance of his own. He added,
human
So you think our society is getting too sensitive and nervous, and inclined to make dangerous mental excursions?
gpt
I'm afraid I do not think much about such things, Irene replied, looking out of the window into the storm.
human
I'm content with a very simple faith, even if it is called ignorance.