human
Can't you? she said coolly, as she ended her little pantomime.
gpt
Well, I can. To adopt Bobby's choice illustration, it would be like mixing potato and frappé. The potato would melt the frappé, and then the frappé would--well, would render the potato unpalatable. In other words, if we work together, I shall pulverize Mrs. Lloyd Avalons, and then the dust of her individuality will get in among my nerves and clog them.
human
If you can't be consistent, Miss Van Osdel, please do try to be concrete, Thayer urged.
gpt
I confess that I find it a little difficult to follow you.
human
Not at all, Bobby interposed.
gpt
She isn't going anywhere. Sally's mental processes always remind me of the way we used to play cars in a row of easy chairs. We were extremely energetic, and we pretended that we were going somewhere; but in reality we didn't budge an inch. Sally, what is the reason you don't like Mrs. Lloyd Avalons?
human
Because she is utterly preposterous,
gpt
And yet, she is bound to arrive, some day,
human
Then I hope it may not be until after I have left, Sally retorted.
gpt
I don't care to have her making connections with me.
human
Sally, you are uncharitable,
gpt
That's more than you can say of Mrs. Lloyd Avalons. She is on half the charity committees in town.
human
How did she get there?
gpt
By toiling upward, day and night. That's where she scores ahead of the great men. According to the poet, they only belonged to the night shift. Mrs. Lloyd Avalons sleeps with the Blue Book under her pillow and dreams social combinations.
human
She probably has a chess board always at her elbow, Sally suggested.
gpt
I can fancy the game, the white queen and her pawn against the whole black force, each man neatly tagged with his name and social status.
human
She is marching straight into the king-row, though,
gpt
Does it strike you that this is perilously near to being gossip?
human
It's not gossip to talk over the possibilities of the lower classes, she remarked imperturbably.
gpt
It is social science.
human
As I said before, there is a certain inconsistency in the idea of a given number of women setting themselves to work to better the condition of the masses, and then coming to wreck and ruin because one of their number is of a slightly different set.
gpt
Slightly inferior,
human
Inferior, then, if you choose. But we are talking of the theory in the abstract, not of any particular case. One hardly expects to find snobbishness in slumming.
gpt
Then that's where one gets left,
human
But if you are all stooping?
gpt
Yes; but the alignment is better, if we all stoop at the same angle,
human
What I wish to know, Thayer said thoughtfully;
gpt
Because she wishes to maintain a proper perspective, Sally replied.
human
Everyone knows that Patsey and she are chums from choice; with Mr. Arlt, there might be a question. Legitimate slumming presupposes two willing parties, the slummer and the slummed.
gpt
In other words, Bobby added;
human
For my part, I like Mr. Arlt, she said flatly.
gpt
What's more, I am going with him to the Kneisel concert, to-morrow night; and, if any of you are there and choose to eye me askance, you are welcome.