human
Well, what's the matter with them? Aren't they flashing to-night?
gpt
Only the very new ones seem to flash on New Year's eve. The older ones fade away. Maybe they are hunting a chop, too.
human
Well --Eastman sat down--
gpt
Oh, I'm sure that wouldn't have been good for you. Pardon me, he rose and took a photograph from the bookcase, a handsome man in shooting clothes.
human
Dudley, isn't it? Did you know him well?
gpt
Yes. An old friend. Terrible thing, wasn't it? I haven't got over the jolt yet.
human
His suicide? Yes, terrible! Did you know his wife?
gpt
Slightly. Well enough to admire her very much. She must be terribly broken up. I wonder Dudley didn't think of that.
human
Would you mind telling me about him? I never met him, but of course I'd read a lot about him, and I can't help feeling interested. It was a queer thing.
gpt
In the days when I knew him best he hadn't any story, like the happy nations. Everything was properly arranged for him before he was born. He came into the world happy, healthy, clever, straight, with the right sort of connections and the right kind of fortune, neither too large nor too small. He helped to make the world an agreeable place to live in until he was twenty-six. Then he married as he should have married. His wife was a Californian, educated abroad. Beautiful. You have seen her picture?
human
Oh, many of them.
gpt
She was interesting, too. Though she was distinctly a person of the world, she had retained something, just enough of the large Western manner. She had the habit of authority, of calling out a special train if she needed it, of using all our ingenious mechanical contrivances lightly and easily, without over-rating them. She and Dudley knew how to live better than most people. Their house was the most charming one I have ever known in New York. You felt freedom there, and a zest of life, and safety--absolute sanctuary--from everything sordid or petty. A whole society like that would justify the creation of man and would make our planet shine with a soft, peculiar radiance among the constellations. You think I'm putting it on thick?
human
Oh, no! One has always felt there must be people like that. I've never known any.