human
Are you tired with your walk?
gpt
No--not in the least. It is but a short distance--but a mile.
human
You look pale.--Is she always so pale?
gpt
She used to be as rosy as the reddest of your flowers.
human
Why is she altered? What has made her pale? Has she been ill?
gpt
She tells me she wants a change.
human
She ought to have one. You ought to give her one. You should send her to the sea-coast.
gpt
I will, ere summer is over. Meantime, I intend her to make acquaintance with you, if you have no objection.
human
I am sure Miss Keeldar will have no objection, here observed Mrs. Pryor.
gpt
I think I may take it upon me to say that Miss Helstone's frequent presence at Fieldhead will be esteemed a favour.
human
You speak my sentiments precisely, ma'am, said Shirley,
gpt
she continued, turning again to Caroline,
human
My dear, you said but now you would ask my opinion when Miss Helstone was gone. I am scarcely likely to give it in her presence.
gpt
No; and perhaps it will be long enough before I obtain it.--I am sometimes sadly tantalized, Mr. Helstone, by Mrs. Pryor's extreme caution. Her judgments ought to be correct when they come, for they are often as tardy of delivery as a Lord Chancellor's. On some people's characters I cannot get her to pronounce a sentence, entreat as I may.
human
Yes, said her pupil,
gpt
I know what that smile means. You are thinking of my gentleman-tenant.--Do you know Mr. Moore of the Hollow?
human
Ay! ay! Your tenant--so he is. You have seen a good deal of him, no doubt, since you came?
gpt
I have been obliged to see him. There was business to transact. Business! Really the word makes me conscious I am indeed no longer a girl, but quite a woman and something more. I am an esquire! Shirley Keeldar, Esquire, ought to be my style and title. They gave me a man's name; I hold a man's position. It is enough to inspire me with a touch of manhood; and when I see such people as that stately Anglo-Belgian--that Gérard Moore--before me, gravely talking to me of business, really I feel quite gentlemanlike. You must choose me for your churchwarden, Mr. Helstone, the next time you elect new ones. They ought to make me a magistrate and a captain of yeomanry. Tony Lumpkin's mother was a colonel, and his aunt a justice of the peace. Why shouldn't I be?
human
With all my heart. If you choose to get up a requisition on the subject, I promise to head the list of signatures with my name. But you were speaking of Moore?
gpt
Ah! yes. I find it a little difficult to understand Mr. Moore, to know what to think of him, whether to like him or not. He seems a tenant of whom any proprietor might be proud--and proud of him I am, in that sense; but as a neighbour, what is he? Again and again I have entreated Mrs. Pryor to say what she thinks of him, but she still evades returning a direct answer. I hope you will be less oracular, Mr. Helstone, and pronounce at once. Do you like him?
human
Not at all, just now. His name is entirely blotted from my good books.
gpt
What is the matter? What has he done?
human
My uncle and he disagree on politics,