human
Dear, she said suddenly,
gpt
Not accept it! Why, sweetheart, I'm tickled as I can be that such a beautiful thing should be given to you. It looks like you, too, somehow, as if it had been specially made for you. I was only wishing-- he sighed faintly--
human
he added hopefully,
gpt
Why, you old goose! you're always giving me beautiful things. My pretty engagement-ring, and the house, and the new Lizzie, and--You see Stefan doesn't have to provide me with dresses and three meals a day, and put up with all my whims and megrims.
human
I'll bet he wishes he did!
gpt
You think because you're in love with me yourself that everybody else is, too! Stefan's about as much in love with me as he was with--baby Joan. It's simply gratitude. Mother was very sweet to him always--I've heard her say that it had been her job, and not an easy one, to restore his faith in women. It seems that he was engaged once to marry a girl who quite understood about his Jewish blood. But when he took her down to the East Side in New York to see the old aunt who had brought him to America, she couldn't stand it. She broke with him, not because of any difference in religion, but because the aunt spoke Yiddish and wore a horsehair wig!--Mustn't she feel like a fool, now that he's become so famous?
human
Well, I don't know, said Archie doubtfully.
gpt
I'd kind of hate to have Yiddish and a wig in the family myself.
human
Archie! I didn't know you were such a snob! So long as Stefan doesn't wear a wig or speak Yiddish, what does the aunt matter! And the funny part of it was that the aunt rather looked down upon poor Stefan because his father had married a Gentile! So he came to regard mother and me as his only family.... Now run along to bed. She kissed him on his eyes, a caress that Archie loved.
gpt
I'm going to take a dose of valerian and have a good night's sleep. It _is_ exciting having your best friend drop down on you from who knows where!