human
Here is a budget of news, indeed! It seems one should be a villain if one desires to succeed successfully.
gpt
But of course you will not allow her to be sacrificed?
human
I? Why not? I suppose she knows what she is about--most women do, he said with gloom. But the next moment he turned towards her.
gpt
Really, I can't tell what she wishes, but I'll tell you what I'll do. She shall hear the precise facts as fairly as I can put them, without exaggeration. After that she must judge for herself. A woman ought to have some sort of notion what the man is like whom she intends to marry, unless, indeed, she cares for him so much that she is content to be blind. In that case--
human
In that case--
gpt
Hadn't she better remain undeceived?
human
Well, at any rate, let her judge fairly, she said.
gpt
Yes, that's due to her. He leant his arms on the table, and began pulling some cyclamen out of a great bunch.
human
he went on;
gpt
Rome seems to have as many flowers as Florence. By the way, do you remember hearing me speak of a young Moroni who used to be a good deal at the villa? He came in my train yesterday from Florence.
human
Did he? said Phillis absently. The constraint between them seemed to increase; they might have been strangers. Her effort had been greater than she knew, and she felt more sad and weary than before Jack came in, while something told her that the hardest part was to come. Jack himself went on playing with the poor cyclamen, no less uncomfortable than she. He wanted to say something about Hetherton, and did not know how to begin. Phillis relieved him of the difficulty.
gpt
Tell me something about Aunt Harriet, please, she said.
human
It is an age since she wrote. Of course you saw her while you were in England?
gpt
Yes. I went to Hetherton at once, and to my amazement found that fellow Trent spending his Christmas there. Did you know he was so thick with them?
human
I? No. They hardly write to me, said she, with a forlorn sense of loneliness.
gpt
But they were well, weren't they?
human
My uncle was horribly cut up by--by your determination, Phillis.
gpt
I was afraid he might be sorry.