human
You, my dear, you are too thin! you're pretty, but too short! you, you smell bad! you, you look stupid.
gpt
It was you, wasn't it, who advised Pierre to speak to me with firmness?
human
I? said Lucan,
gpt
It must have been you. You, she went on again, speaking to her flowers,
human
Ferocious!
gpt
At any rate, I have no fault to find with you for that. You were right; poor Pierre is too weak with me. I like a man to be a man. And yet he is very brave, is he not?
human
Extremely so, said Lucan;
gpt
He looks like it, and yet with me--he is an angel.
human
It is because he loves you.
gpt
Quite probable!--some of those flowers are so curious. Look at this one; it looks like a little lady!
human
I hope that you love him too, my good Pierre?
gpt
Quite probable, too!
human
And why should I love him?
gpt
What a question! said Lucan.
human
Why, because he is perfectly worthy of being loved; because he has every quality; intelligence, heart, and even beauty--finally, because you have married him.
gpt
Monsieur de Lucan, will you allow me to tell you something confidentially?
human
I beg you to do so.
gpt
That trip to Italy has been very injurious to me.
human
In what way?
gpt
Before my marriage, I did not think myself positively ugly, but I fancied myself at least quite plain.
human
Yes! Well?
gpt
Well! while traveling about Italy, among all those souvenirs and those marbles, so much admired, I made strange reflections. I said to myself that, after all, these princesses and goddesses of the ancient world, who drove shepherds and kings mad, for whose sake wars broke out and sacrileges were committed, were persons pretty much after my own style. Then occurred to me the fatal idea of my own beauty! I felt that I disposed of an exceptional power; that I was a sacred object that could not be given away for a vulgar trifle, and which could only be the reward--how can I say?--of a great deed or of a crime!
human
But, my dear Julia, he said,
gpt
Do you think so? said Julia.
human
What a pity! she added, bursting out into a hearty laugh.
gpt
You see, I tell you all the nonsense that comes in my head. That's amiable enough, I hope, is it not?
human
It is certainly extremely amiable, said Lucan.
gpt
Keep on.
human
With such precious encouragement, sir! she said, rising and finishing her sentence with a courtesy;