human
It is a very pretty scene. I suppose, Mr. Bass, that you are making studies,
gpt
No; hardly that. One must always observe. It gets to be a habit. The thing is to see reality under appearances.
human
Then you would call yourself a realist?
gpt
That is a slang term, Mrs. Henderson. What you want is nature, color, passion--to pierce the artificialities.
human
But you must describe appearance.
gpt
Certainly, to an extent--form, action, talk as it is, even trivialities --especially the trivialities, for life is made up of the trivial.
human
But suppose that does not interest me?
gpt
Pardon me, Mrs. Henderson, that is because you are used to the conventional, the selected. Nature is always interesting.
human
I do not find it so.
gpt
No? Nature has been covered up; it has been idealized. Look yonder, and Mr. Bass pointed across the lawn.
human
See that young woman upon whom the sunlight falls standing waiting her turn. See the quivering of the eyelids, the heaving of the chest, the opening lips; note the curve of her waist from the shoulder, and the line rounding into the fall of the folds of the Austrian cashmere. I try to saturate myself with that form, to impress myself with her every attitude and gesture, her color, her movement, and then I shall imagine the form under the influence of passion. Every detail will tell. I do not find unimportant the tie of her shoe. The picture will be life.
gpt
But suppose, Mr. Bass, when you come to speak with her, you find that she has no ideas, and talks slang.
human
All the better. It shows what we are, what our society is. And besides, Mrs. Henderson, nearly everybody has the capacity of being wicked; that is to say, of expressing emotion.
gpt
You take a gloomy view, Mr. Bass.
human
I take no view, Mrs. Henderson. My ambition is to record. It will not help matters by pretending that people are better than they are.
gpt
Well, Mr. Bass, you may be quite right, but I am not going to let you spoil my enjoyment of this lovely scene, said Margaret, moving away. Mr. Bass watched her until she disappeared, and then entered in his notebook a phrase for future use,
human
The prosperous propriety of a pretty plutocrat. He was gathering materials for his forthcoming book,
gpt
The Last Sigh of the Prude.