human
Louise, I wish to talk to you,
gpt
True, sighed her niece.
human
And how extremely exact you always are in your use of the language, auntie. You never wish to talk _with_ me. _You_ will do all the talking as usual, I fear.
gpt
You are inclined to be saucy, bruskly rejoined Aunt Euphemia.
human
As your father is away I feel more deeply my responsibility in this matter. You are a wayward girl--you always have been.
gpt
You don't expect me to agree with you on that point, do you, auntie?
human
I am not amazed, after seeing your surroundings at the Silt place, that you should become familiar with these common longshore characters. But this that I have just learned--only this forenoon in fact--astonishes me beyond measure; it does, indeed!
gpt
Let me be astonished, too, auntie. I love a surprise,
human
Where were you yesterday?
gpt
Out fishing.
human
And with whom, may I ask?
gpt
With Betty Gallup, Uncle Abram's housekeeper.
human
But the man?
gpt
Oh! Mr. Tapp, you mean? A very pleasant young man, auntie.
human
That is what I was told, Louise, her aunt said mournfully.
gpt
With young Tapp. And you have been seen with him frequently. It is being remarked by the whole colony. Of course, you can mean nothing by this intimacy. It arises from your thoughtlessness, I presume. You must understand that he is not--er----Well, the Tapps are not of our set, Louise.
human
My goodness, no! laughed the girl cheerfully.
gpt
The Tapps are real Cape Codders, I believe.
human
I do not understand you, I fear. What the Tapps are by blood, I do not know. But they are not in society at all--not at all!
gpt
Not in society?
human
Scarcely. Of course, as Mrs. Perriton says, the way the cottagers are situated here at The Beaches, the Tapps _must_ be treated with a certain friendliness. That quite impossible 'I. Tapp,' as he advertises himself, owns all the Point and might easily make it very disagreeable for the rest of the colony if he so chose.
gpt
What _do_ you mean? Louise asked.
human
Who--who are these Tapps?
gpt
My dear child! Didn't you know? Was I blaming you for a fault of which you were not intentionally guilty? See how wrong you are to go unwarned and unaccompanied to strange places and into strange company. I thought you were merely having a mild flirtation with that young man in the full light of understanding.
human
Tell me, Aunt Euphemia, she repeated,
gpt
His father is a manufacturer of cheap candies. He is advertised far and wide as 'I. Tapp, the Salt Water Taffy King.' Fancy! I presume you are quite right; they probably were nothing more than clam diggers originally. The wife and daughters are extremely raw; no other word expresses it. And that house! Have you seen it close to? There was never anything quite so awful built outside an architect's nightmare.
human
They own Tapp Point? _That_ is Lawford's home? Those girls are his sisters?
gpt
Whom _did_ you take that young man to be, Louise?
human
A fisherman's son,