human
Jerry, is anything the matter with me?
gpt
No, of course not; why?
human
I find you staring at me so strangely all the time I'm with you. It makes me self-conscious.
gpt
I beg your pardon.
human
Is there something you want to ask me?
gpt
Has it ever occurred to you that we knew nothing at all about each other when we married?
human
Yes. That was one of the nicest things about us. We took each other for what we were, at the time, and asked no tiresome questions.
gpt
Haven't you any curiosity about my past, Jane?
human
No. I married your present; I'm not concerned with anything else.
gpt
That isn't a bit feminine.
human
Then it must be masculine, so we agree on the stupidity of historic autobiography.
gpt
I'm beginning to be interested in your past, Jane.
human
Very masculine! she retorted.
gpt
No use, Jerry; it's over and done with. I'm not even interested in it myself.
human
Communicativeness is not a vice with you, I may say.
gpt
That was why you married me, if you remember. You spoke of it specially the day of the wedding. I warned you then that 'the Man with the Dumb Wife' had a bad time of it, both while she was dumb and when she was not!
human
A reasonable amount of confidence between husband and wife is desirable, don't you think so?
gpt
I can't say that I do. Who is to decide what is a reasonable amount--the confidant or the confider? No one can be trusted to say just enough; I like reserve better, myself.
human
Do you advocate our not talking at all?
gpt
Oh, no. About opinions, ideas, facts, by all means let us have an exchange--not personal history--soul deliveries--they take away all the mysteries.
human
I suppose that is why I feel sometimes that I am married to you, but that you live in Mars.
gpt
Poor Jerry! Would you like a babbling, cozy, confiding little wife?
human
I don't know that I'm quite up to the mysteries, Jane.
gpt
Would you like to end our experiment, Jerry?
human
No; of course not. What put such an idea into your head?
gpt
I'm quite sure that I do not give you all you want, in our union.
human
Oh, yes, you do, Jane,
gpt
I give you all you asked for when we married, but no one stands still; new demands grow subconsciously. So it has been with us.
human
You mean I don't give you what you want?
gpt
No.
human
You want to end it?
gpt
No.
human
What then?
gpt
If we have the intelligence to realize the situation, we must be able to meet it.
human
But how?
gpt
I don't know yet. We must both consider it deeply.