human
I don't know Miss Sutherland well enough to ask her to be of our party, Constance said to Dolly.
gpt
She is so far away from home that I would like to ask her if I felt better acquainted. I don't see how you ever came to know her. She absolutely repels all advances.
human
Mary is just like a chestnut-burr on the outside, she replied now to Constance.
gpt
Sometime she will get tired of pricking all of her friends, and then everyone will see what a genuine heart of gold she has.
human
I hope she will shed the burr soon, for her own sake. People do not like to get stung and pricked when they approach her in a friendly manner.
gpt
I have preached until I am tired. We must leave her alone now. I am going to take her home with me, and Mother intends keeping her after I go on to your house. She is quite in love with Mother, and is as nearly demonstrative with her, as it is possible for Mary to be with anyone. We shall be a very congenial party at your house, Constance. You always do manage to get together people that suit.
human
I am afraid that you will take back that remark when you know of one more invitation that I want to give today.
gpt
What in the world do you mean?
human
Don't be stunned, but I want to have Margery Ainsworth. Shall I?
gpt
The idea of asking us whom you shall invite to your own home! How absurd!
human
But you don't like Margery.
gpt
I hadn't known that you did either,
human
I have felt a little sorry for her lately. We have seen more or less of each other all our lives; we both live in New York, and as children we went to the same kindergarten, and we have seen each other with some frequency during all the in-between years. Just now Margery is not having an easy time. Instead of being a junior, as she would have been in the ordinary course of events, she is only a freshman, but I have learned that she is doing extra work and has taken some extra examinations. She hopes to come into our class as a full sophomore after Christmas.
gpt
I wonder what has roused her so. She was never a student in any sense of the word, last year.
human
She knows that her father is earnest in his determination to have her complete her course here, and so she is resolved to get through as quickly as possible. She has lost one year, but there is no reason why she should lose two. She is discovering unsuspected capabilities for study in herself; you must have noticed that she takes no recreation and has no friends. She is settling down into a mere 'grind.'
gpt
Margery Ainsworth, of all people!
human
It is strange. She does not love study any better than she once did, but she has an indomitable perseverance when her will is aroused. Just now she is determined to get through college as soon as possible, and to maintain a good standing. I cannot see why Mr. Ainsworth is so resolved that she shall graduate from here. She is an only child, and her mother is an invalid. He must have some weighty reason for sending her off, when she would be such a comfort to her mother.
gpt
It must hurt her pride fearfully to be under constant supervision, not to be able to go where other girls go, and to feel that she is not trusted.
human
It is hard, most certainly, but Margery brought all that on herself. One cannot do wrong without meeting the penalties for it, in some way or other, even in this life. But if she succeeds in making the sophomore class, she will come into it with a clean page turned. I happen to know that the faculty means to give her a chance to wipe out old scores.
gpt
And you want to help the girl? Well, you don't suppose that any of the rest of us would be so mean-spirited as to make objections? If you think that, you had better withdraw our invitations.
human
Don't talk nonsense, my dearest Dolly, Constance said indolently.
gpt
I am too fatigued to argue with you.
human
Then come and have a walk, Con. Beth is working away at some problem in her advanced trigonometry that it would make me ill even to read over. I have come to have an added respect for Beth this year, when I see how deliberately she picks out all the mathematical courses. It would not be possible for me to do that. It tasks all of my mathematical resources just to keep account of my own allowance.
gpt
You excel Beth in some other things, so that you may consider yourself even. By the way where is Margaret? I would like her to go with us.
human
We might look into the library. She may be there,