human
I suppose it has been dreadfully hot in the city?
gpt
Hot enough. Everything makes it hot.
human
Has anything gone wrong? Has that odious Ault turned up again?
gpt
Turned up is the word. Half the time that man is a mole, half the time a bull in a china-shop. He sails up to you bearing your own flag, and when he gets aboard he shows the skull and cross-bones.
human
Is it so bad as that?
gpt
As bad as what? He is a bad lot, but he is just an adventurer--a Napoleon who will get his Waterloo before fall. Don't bother about things you don't understand. How are things down here?
human
Going swimmingly.
gpt
So I judged by the bills. How is the lord?
human
Now don't be vulgar, Tom. You must keep up your end. Lord Montague is very nice; he is a great favorite here.
gpt
Does Evelyn like him?
human
Yes, she likes him; she likes him very much.
gpt
She didn't show it to me.
human
No, she is awfully shy. And she is rather afraid of him, the big title and all that. And then she has never been accustomed to act for herself. She is old enough to be independent and to take her place in the world. At her age I was not in leading-strings.
gpt
I should say not,
human
Except in obedience to my mother, continued Carmen, not deigning to notice the sarcasm.
gpt
And I've been thinking that McDonald--
human
So you want to get rid of her?
gpt
What a brutal way of putting it! No. But if Evelyn is ever to be self-reliant it is time she should depend more on herself. You know I am devoted to McDonald. And, what is more, I am used to her. I wasn't thinking of her. You don't realize that Evelyn is a young lady in society, and it has become ridiculous for her to still have a governess. Everybody would say so.
human
Well, call her a companion.
gpt
Ah, don't you see it would be the same? She would still be under her influence and not able to act for herself.
human
What are you going to do? Turn her adrift after eighteen--what is it, seventeen?--years of faithful service?
gpt
How brutally you put it. I'm going to tell McDonald just how it is. She is a sensible woman, and she will see that it is for Evelyn's good. And then it happens very luckily. Mrs. Van Cortlandt asked me last winter if I wouldn't let her have McDonald for her little girl when we were through with her. She knew, of course, that we couldn't keep a governess much longer for Evelyn. I am going to write to her. She will jump at the chance.
human
And McDonald?
gpt
Oh, she likes Mrs. Van Cortlandt. It will just suit her.
human
And Evelyn? That will be another wrench.
gpt
Of course, I know it seems hard, and will be for a little. But it is for Evelyn's good, I am perfectly sure.