human
Your debtor bids you good-night! May you rest safely and serenely till morning.
gpt
And you, Mr. Moore--what are you going to do? What have you been saying to Mr. Helstone, with whom I saw you shake hands? Why did all those gentlemen gather round you? Put away reserve for once. Be frank with me.
human
Who can resist you? I will be frank. To-morrow, if there is anything to relate, you shall hear it.
gpt
Just now, pleaded Shirley;
human
But I could only tell half a tale. And my time is limited; I have not a moment to spare. Hereafter I will make amends for delay by candour.
gpt
But are you going home?
human
Yes.
gpt
Not to leave it any more to-night?
human
Certainly not. At present, farewell to both of you.
gpt
Farewell,
human
There! it is over, said Shirley when he was gone.
gpt
We have made him bid us good-night, and yet not lost ground in his esteem, I think, Cary.
human
I hope not,
gpt
I consider you very timid and undemonstrative, remarked Miss Keeldar.
human
Why did you not give Moore your hand when he offered you his? He is your cousin; you like him. Are you ashamed to let him perceive your affection?
gpt
He perceives all of it that interests him. No need to make a display of feeling.
human
You are laconic; you would be stoical if you could. Is love, in your eyes, a crime, Caroline?
gpt
Love a crime! No, Shirley; love is a divine virtue. But why drag that word into the conversation? It is singularly irrelevant.
human
Good!
gpt
Obtrusiveness is a crime, forwardness is a crime, and both disgust; but love! no purest angel need blush to love. And when I see or hear either man or woman couple shame with love, I know their minds are coarse, their associations debased. Many who think themselves refined ladies and gentlemen, and on whose lips the word 'vulgarity' is for ever hovering, cannot mention 'love' without betraying their own innate and imbecile degradation. It is a low feeling in their estimation, connected only with low ideas for them.
human
You describe three-fourths of the world, Caroline.
gpt
They are cold--they are cowardly--they are stupid on the subject, Shirley! They never loved--they never were loved!
human
Thou art right, Lina. And in their dense ignorance they blaspheme living fire, seraph-brought from a divine altar.
gpt
They confound it with sparks mounting from Tophet.