human
Don't you think I understand you? she said lightly.
gpt
Don't you think you ought to have lived on in Mullion House?
human
Oh, no, I had had quite enough of it!
gpt
And your opera could never have been brought to the birth there.
human
You knew that, perhaps, and were wise in your generation.
gpt
I always think one of the signs of greatness in an artist is his knowledge of what environment, what way of life, is necessary to his talent. No one can know that for him. Every really great artist is as inflexible as the Grand Rocher.
human
That is why women always love and hate him.
gpt
I am sure Charmian knows that.
human
There are very few great artists in the world,
gpt
And, so, very few inflexible men?
human
I have never--
gpt
Yes?
human
I was only going to say, he said, speaking now doggedly,
gpt
Do you really mean to tell me that you don't think yourself a man of talent?
human
I am entirely unknown.
gpt
What has that to do with it?
human
Nothing, of course, but--but perhaps it is only when he has something to offer, and has offered it, that a man knows what is his value.
gpt
In that case you will know when you have produced your opera.
human
All my good wishes and my prayers will go with you from now till its production, she continued, always lightly.
gpt
I have a right to be specially interested since that evening with Said Hitani. And then I have been privileged. I have read the libretto.