human
Good morning, cousin; I hope your aristocratic head has been able to repose quietly in this democratic community.
gpt
As well as if all the coronets that ever were lined with ermine had rested beside me on the pillow. Democracy is not a catching disease, I should imagine, from all I have seen of it. But may I ask how _you_ slept? I trust without any painful visions of slaughtered swains and disconsolate lovers, or any twinges of remorse for all the woes you have and will inflict upon mankind.
human
None, in truth, she answered at once.
gpt
Do you know I once killed a rattlesnake?--yes, with my own hand; and when I saw the shining reptile lie dead before me, I remembered he had given honourable warning before he sprang, and then I might feel a little regret that I had struck him so hastily with the butt of my riding-whip. But man is a very different sort of reptile: he gives no warning, and is far more venomous.
human
Can this young girl, apparently not twenty, have already tasted of that bitter cup which man so often holds to woman's lip?
gpt
Now I will show you, she said,
human
And when it becomes your case to listen and have sweet words spoken, I replied,
gpt
Never! I will never give any one the opportunity; for I go very much with the old saying, 'no _gentleman_ was ever refused by a _lady_.' I mean, no man who is really a gentleman would propose to a lady who had not given him such encouragement as would preclude her, if really a lady, from refusing him if he did propose.
human
Then you would have a lady, I said,
gpt
Pshaw! you know what I mean; and every man of common tact will, in his heart, admit that I am right.
human
In neither one or the other of the two cases,
gpt
What two cases?
human
Two assertions, I should have called them, answered I;
gpt
Why, how old are you?
human
Seven-and-twenty,
gpt
I thought so! she cried, with a joyous laugh;
human
Indeed! I answered, perhaps a little mortified;
gpt
Excuse me, she replied, dropping a low curtsy.
human
I might say, because that makes you just a fit age for myself, or a hundred other civil things. But I would rather say nothing, Sir Richard.
gpt
Sir Richard! I exclaimed.
human
How came you to give me that name, Miss Davenport?
gpt
Because you are just seven-and-twenty; and because there is 'Richard Conway' printed in white letters upon the black trunks you left at Norfolk, she replied, with an air of funny malice, adding,
human
Good heaven, this babbling is very provoking! I exclaimed, greatly annoyed;
gpt
No fear, she answered;
human
And _you_ will tell no one?
gpt
Honour!
human
If you do, I said, laughing.
gpt
I will tell your uncle, whom I see coming up there, that you and I have been standing this quarter of an hour at the edge of the porch, talking of love all the time.
human
Love! she cried,
gpt
A very savoury figure, I answered.
human
But as to love, if we have not been talking about it, notwithstanding all circumlocutions, we have been thinking about it.
gpt
Not a bit, she replied.
human
We have been talking, and thinking too, of the most opposite things--of the very antipodes of love. Courtship and marriage, if you like; but what has love to do with them, cousin?