human
Great luck, Len! he announced.
gpt
I'm to get my first try-out in operating, after the late unpleasantness, on an out-of-town case. Off in an hour with Amy for a place two hundred miles away in a spot I never heard of--promises to be interesting. Anyhow, I feel like a small boy with his first kite, likely to go straight off the ground hitched to the tail of it.
human
I'm glad for you, Red. And I wish --she bit her lip and turned away--
gpt
That's not what you started to say. He came close, laid a hand on either side of her face, and turned it up so that he could look into it, his lips smiling.
human
Tell me. I'll wager I know what you wish.
gpt
No, you can't.
human
That you could go with me--to take Amy's place and assist.
gpt
Len, don't hide that from me. It's the one thing I've always wished you'd show, and you never have. I'm such a jealous beggar myself I've wanted you to care--that way, and I've never been able to discover a trace of it.
human
But I'm not really jealous in the way you think. How could I be?--with not the slightest cause. It's only--envy of Amy because she is--so necessary to you. O Red, I never, never meant to say it!
gpt
I'd rather hear you say it than anything else on earth. I'd like to hear you own that you were mad with jealousy, because I've been eaten up with it myself ever since I first laid eyes on you. Not that you've ever given me a reason for it, but because it's my red-headed nature. Now I must go; but I'll take your face with me, my Len, and if I do a good piece of work it'll be for love of you.
human
And of your work, Red. I'm not jealous of that; I'm too proud of it.
gpt
I know you are, bless you.