human
The play has gone well, and you are happy?
gpt
Gorgeously--I grant you I was a bit nervous as to whether during these years of--well--love in idleness, I had not lost touch with my art. But I haven't. I have only matured in mind and in method. I am not conceited, dear man, truly I am not; but I am neither too lazy nor too modest to use my brains. What I know I am not afraid to apply. I've very little theory, but a precious deal of practice--and that's the way to get on. Don't talk about your ideas--just use them for all you're worth.--But this is beside the mark. You're trying to head me off. Why didn't you come?
human
I would gladly have come, Iglesias answered.
gpt
My disappointment has been quite as great as yours.
human
Bless your heart!
gpt
But it was impossible for me to come. I was detained until it was too late.
human
Oh! fiddle! Poppy cried, with a lift of her head.
gpt
I stand first. You ought not to have let yourself be detained. After all, it's not every day someone you know blazes from a farthing dip into a star of the first magnitude. You might very well have crowded other things aside. I feel a trifle hurt, dear man, really I do.
human
Believe me, no ordinary matter would have prevented my coming, Iglesias answered. To his relief the carriage just then turned into the comparative peace of Langham Place. It became possible to speak softly.
gpt
There was a death in the house last night, he went on,