human
I cannot and will not bear it any longer! he cried angrily.
gpt
Must I turn spy in my old age, and constantly be upon the watch to prevent a wayward, foolish child, who has no possible claim upon me, from making a perpetual fool of herself?
human
But remember, uncle, she is unhappy,
gpt
Unhappy?—she is a deceitful fool!—I am no ogre, and when I thought her really unhappy, that is, when she lost both her parents, I did all that I could to protect and guide her. But that is not what is the matter with her, for scarcely two months after her loss she went singing about and chattering like a magpie, so that I was really grieved to see such heartlessness and frivolity. What is she unhappy about, eh? But I don’t want to know her state secret if she has no confidence in me;—let it alone. For all I care she may wear that die-away look upon her face for the next year; but to pretend to be dumb, to run about in the forest at night like a maniac, and perhaps one of these fine days burn down my house about my ears, it is more than I can bear, and I must have a word or two to say about the matter.
human
Did you not heed the warning that I gave you?
gpt
Certainly I did; I put her into another room; she sleeps now just above me, so that I can hear her lightest step. At night both the house doors are not only bolted, as they have always been at night, but locked too, and I take the key into my room. And oh! the cunning of women,—but that’s an old story. At any rate my precautions ensured us some rest. But last night I could not get to sleep; the affair with Linke was running through my brain, and I heard steps above me, cautious steps, soft as a cat’s. Aha! I thought, she is at her nightly promenades again, and I rose, but when I went up-stairs the nest was already empty. On a table at the open window a light was burning, and as I opened the door the curtain flew into the flame. Zounds! if I had not been quick as a flash we should have had a blaze that would have been well fed by those old balconies. And how did she get out? Through the kitchen window. I would rather take care of a swarm of ants than of such a sly, deceitful creature.
human
I am convinced that some love affair is at the bottom of the girl’s conduct,
gpt
Yes, you told me so once before, sister-in-law, replied the forester with irritation,
human
You have forgotten one,
gpt
Well?
human
Herr von Hollfeld.
gpt
Hm! he muttered at last,
human
I should never in the world have thought of him. No, no, he continued quickly,
gpt
I do not believe it, for in the first place the girl cannot possibly be such a fool as to believe that he would make her my lady von Odenberg, and——
human
Perhaps she hoped that he would, and finds herself mistaken,
gpt
She is vain and arrogant enough for it, but he,—he cares nothing for women,—he is a cold, heartless egotist,
human
An egotist, I grant you, said Frau Ferber,
gpt
That would be a fine affair, cried the forester angrily,