human
That, said Valeria,
gpt
I am sure I shall hate that man, exclaimed Hadria.
human
He is not to be trusted; what nonsense he is talking to Lady Engleton!
gpt
You can't hear, can you?
human
No; I can see. And she laughs and smiles and bandies words with him. He is amusing certainly; there is that excuse for her; but I wonder how she can do it.
gpt
What an extraordinary creature you are! To take a prejudice against a man before you have spoken to him.
human
He is cruel, he is cruel! exclaimed Hadria in a low, excited voice.
gpt
He is like some cunning wild animal. Look at Professor Fortescue! his opposite pole--why it is all clearer, at this distance, than if we were under the confusing influence of their speech. See the contrast between that quiet, firm walk, and the insinuating, conceited tread of the other man. Joseph Fleming comes out well too, honest soul!
human
He is carrying a fishing-rod. They have been fishing,
gpt
Not Professor Fortescue, I am certain. _He_ does not find his pleasure in causing pain.
human
This hero-worship blinds you. Depend upon it, he is not without the primitive instinct to kill.
gpt
There are individual exceptions to all savage instincts, or the world would never move.
human
Instinct rules the world, said Miss Du Prel.
gpt
At least it is obviously neither reason nor the moral sense that rules it.
human
Then why does it produce a Professor Fortescue now and then?
gpt
Possibly as a corrective.
human
Or perhaps for fun,
gpt
Professor Theobald, if you are able to resist the fascinations of this old house you are made of sterner stuff than I thought.
human
I can never resist fascinations, Lady Engleton.
gpt
Do you ever try?
human
My life is spent in the endeavour.
gpt
How foolish!
human
Do you know, Mrs. Temperley, she said in her incessantly vivacious manner,
gpt
I have scarcely heard a serious word since our two Professors came to us. Isn't it disgraceful? I naturally expected to be improved and enlightened, but they are both so frivolous, I can't keep them for a moment to any important subject. They refuse to be profound. It is _I_ who have to be profound.
human
While _we_ endeavour to be charming,
gpt
You may think that flattering, but I confess it seems to me a beggarly compliment (as men's to women usually are).
human
You expect too much of finite intelligence, Lady Engleton.
gpt
This is how I am always put off! If it were not that you are both such old friends--you are a sort of cousin I think, Professor Fortescue--I should really feel aggrieved. One has to endure so much more from relations. No, but really; I appeal to Mrs. Temperley. When one is hungering for erudition, to be offered compliments! Not that I can accuse Professor Fortescue of compliments, she added with a laugh;
human
So it is to me,
gpt
But that is not your _rôle_. You have to think, not to enjoy.
human
Then you must not invite us to Craddock Place,
gpt
As usual, a halting compliment.
human
To take you seriously, Lady Engleton, said Professor Fortescue,
gpt
Ah, sighed Lady Engleton,
human
I know I don't extract the full flavour out of _that_!
gpt
It is a neglected art, said the Professor.
human
After worrying himself with the problems of existence, as the human being is prone to do, as soon as existence is more or less secure and peaceful, a man can experience few things more enjoyable than to leave aside all problems and go out into the fields, into the sun, to feel the life in his veins, the world at the threshold of his five senses.
gpt
Ah, now you really are profound at last, Professor!
human
I thought it was risky to take you seriously.
gpt
No, no, I am delighted. The world at the threshold of one's five senses. One has but to look and to listen and the beauty of things displays itself for our benefit. Yes, but that is what the artists say, not the Professors.
human
Even a Professor is human,
gpt
Carry me out into the wind and the sunshine, Into the beautiful world!