human
I hoped you would come, she said.
gpt
I want to be condoled with. Robert’s foot has descended. We are going home.
human
Oh, I am sorry, replied Gorham, taking the chair she offered him;
gpt
No. Robert has said ’positively;’ and when he says ’positively,’ I never waste any more nervous force. Poor, dear boy, he wants to stay as badly as I do, but we have been here longer than we expected already, and after all I would rather go back than to give up the apartment and go to the poorhouse, which he says is the alternative.
human
I must go to Boston before long, said Page.
gpt
Wouldn’t you like to stay and go back with me?
human
Let Robert go home alone?
gpt
Yes.
human
No, I thank you, with a firm shake of the head.
gpt
I shouldn’t care for the Fair without Robert.
human
That is nice, remarked Gorham, regarding her attentively.
gpt
I think I should like my wife to feel like that.
human
Oh, that vague and shadowy wife of yours! Once I believed in her. Too bad that such a good-natured match-maker as I would have been should be burdened with such an impossible brother as you. I have lost all my interest in you, and have transferred it to Jack.
gpt
You think yourself very clever about Jack, don’t you?
human
It goes without saying that I am clever, of course, but this occasion does not demand much insight. If they were a trifle more secret in their chats in corners and their exchange of masonic signals, I should think, perhaps, I was a treacherous guest to mention them; but they enjoy their little comedy, and are perfectly willing others should. I think it is unkind in them not to come out openly and allow me to give them my blessing before I go.
gpt
I must say, Hilda, I don’t enjoy hearing you use that tone about Mrs. Van Tassel.
human
What is the matter with my tone?
gpt
It is light,
human
What crotchet have you taken now? she asked.
gpt
Doesn’t the match please you?
human
It is not a match. You are laboring under a false idea. If Mrs. Van Tassel should ever distinguish a man in the way you are speaking of, it will come to our knowledge in a different manner from the one you describe. We are talking in low tones in a corner now; but we are not sentimentally interested in one another.
gpt
An unanswerable argument, said Hilda good-naturedly.
human
You needn’t take the matter _au grand sérieux_. I am profoundly grateful to Mrs. Van Tassel, and think her one of the most charming women I ever knew.