human
I would like to tell you just what happened, he began, with a seriousness that matched her own.
gpt
Elizabeth had made up her mind not to marry David Richie. They had had some falling out, I believe. I never asked what; of course that wasn't my business. Well, I had been in love with her for months; but I didn't suppose I had a ghost of a chance; of course I wouldn't have dreamed of trying to--to take her from him. But when she broke with him, why, I felt that I had a--a right, you know.
human
Well; we thought--I mean I thought; that the easiest way all round was to get married at once. Not discuss it, you know, with people; but just--well, in point of fact, I persuaded her to run off with me! He tried to laugh, but his mother's face was rigid. She was looking at him closely, but she said nothing. By this time her continued silence had made him so nervous that he went through his explanation again from beginning to end. Still she did not speak.
gpt
You see, Mother, he said, reddening with the discomfort of the moment,
human
Annoyed? For a moment she smiled.
gpt
Well, I should hardly call it 'annoyed.' Suddenly she made a gesture with her hand, as if to say, stop all this nonsense!
human
Blair, she said,
gpt
I'm not going to go into this business of your marriage at all. It's done. Blair drew a breath of astonished relief.
human
You've not only done a wicked thing, which is bad; you've done a fool thing, which is worse. I have some sort of patience with a knave, but a fool--'annoys' me, as you express it. You've married a girl who loves another man. You may or may not repent your wickedness--you and I have different ideas on such subjects; but you'll certainly repent your foolishness. When you are eaten up with jealousy of David, you'll wish you had behaved decently. I know what I'm talking about --she paused, looking down at her fingers picking nervously at the back of the chair;
gpt
I've been jealous, she said in a low voice. Then, with a quick breath:
human
However, wicked or foolish, or both, it's _done_, and I'm not going to waste my time talking about it.
gpt
You're very kind, he said; he was so bewildered by this unexpected mildness that he could not think what to say next.
human
I very much appreciate your overlooking my not telling you about it before I did it. The--the fact was, he began to stammer; her face was not reassuring;
gpt
You say you mean to go to Europe; how?
human
How? he repeated.
gpt
I don't know just what you mean. Of course I shall be sorry to leave the Works, but under the circumstances--
human
It costs money to go to Europe. Have you got any?
gpt
My salary--
human
How can you have a salary when you don't do any work?
gpt
Kind? she broke in,
human
I've done being 'kind,' in the way that's ruined you, and made you a useless fool. I'm going to try another sort of kindness. You can work, my son, or you can starve.
gpt
What do you mean?
human
This business of your marrying Elizabeth isn't the important thing; that's just a symptom of your disease. It's the fact of your being the sort of man you are, that's important. Blair was silent. Then Sarah Maitland began her statement of the situation as she saw it; she told him just what sort of a man he was: indolent, useless, helpless, selfish.
gpt
Until now I've always said that at any rate you were harmless. I can't say even that now! She tried to explain that when a man lives on money he has not earned, he incurs, by merely living, a debt of honor;--that God will collect. But she did not know how to say it. Instead, she told him he was a parasite;--which loathsome truth was like oil on the flames of his slowly gathering rage. He was a man, she said, whose business in life was to enjoy himself. She tried to make clear to him that after youth,--perhaps even after childhood,--enjoyment, as the purpose of effort, was dwarfing.
human
You are sort of a dwarf, Blair, she said, with curiously impersonal brutality. Any enjoyment, she insisted, that was worthy of a man, was only a by-product, as you might call it, of effort for some other purpose than enjoyment.
gpt
One of our puddlers enjoys doing a good job, I guess;--but that isn't why he does it, she said, shrewdly. Any man whose sole effort was to get pleasure is, considering what kind of a world we live in, a poor creature.
human
That's the best that can be said for him, she said;
gpt
Then she told him that his best, which had been harmlessness, and his worst, which they
human
--were both more her fault than his. It was her fault that he was such a poor creature;
gpt
she said. She stopped, her face moving with emotion.
human
I've robbed you of incentive; I see that now. Any man who has the need of work taken away from him, is robbed. I guess enjoyment is all that is left for him. I ask your pardon. Her humility was pitiful, but her words were outrageous.
gpt
You are young yet, she said;
human
I _think_ what I am going to do will cure you. If it doesn't, God knows what will become of you! It was the cure of the surgeon's knife, ruthless, radical; it was, in fact, kill or cure; she knew that.
gpt
Of course it's a gamble, she admitted, and paused, nibbling at her finger;
human
She spoke of it as she might of some speculative business decision. She looked at him as if imploring comprehension, but she had to speak as she thought, with sledgehammer directness.
gpt
It takes brains to make money--I know because I've made it; but any fool can inherit it, just as any fool can accept it. I'm going to give you a chance to develop some brains. You can work or you can starve. Or, she added simply,