human
My stay in Chicago will be so short, that had you been out I fear I should not have met you again, he said.
gpt
I am happy to see, Mrs. Van Tassel, Gorham inspected her with kindly, short-sighted eyes,
human
No, just my old one, she answered lightly, indicating a seat near her own.
gpt
I am sorry my sister is out; but she is a gay girl, with a little smiling sigh.
human
Wherever she is, somehow a number of engagements seem to crop up.
gpt
Yes. One can see that she is a leader by nature. I should like to have seen Miss Bryant. However, my errand is with you especially to-day.
human
Oh, it is an errand that has brought you? How unflattering!
gpt
Not necessarily. It argued nothing unflattering when John Alden performed his famous errand to Priscilla.
human
Haven’t you gone a long way afield for a simile?
gpt
No, I think not. I was quite as reluctant as poor John to accept the mission.
human
Then decline it even at this late hour. I am the least curious of women.
gpt
Impossible. Page shook his head.
human
Miles Standish is waiting for me over there at the Northern, and he is in a great state of mind.
gpt
You tempt me to wish I had been out when your card came up. Perfunctory visits are very uncomfortable. I think you had better return to your friend, and tell him that Priscilla would not allow you to speak.
human
I’m not making you uncomfortable, am I? asked Gorham looking up and half laughing.
gpt
You see it is this way. I wanted to come to see you, and as soon as Jack learned my intention, he burdened me with this business. He told me to be eloquent, and not being in the least so, I am overwhelmed by my responsibilities. I had a presentiment, and told him so, that I should make a mess of the whole affair; but he insisted upon trusting his messenger as blindly as the Puritan captain of old.
human
And do you insist upon refusing to be warned by John Alden’s failure?
gpt
Oh, I mustn’t fail, he returned with prompt simplicity.
human
That is, if I do I shall take a room here in the Auditorium for the remainder of my stay. We all make rather a pet of Jack, he explained.
gpt
The thought of denying him or contradicting him presents itself somewhat in the light of a catastrophe. What do you think, Mrs. Van Tassel, of the effect on the average character of a habit of success?