human
Do you remember when I got this, Carmen? It was when I was a bachelor. It was rare then. I saw it quoted the other day as worth twice the price I gave for it.
gpt
I used to read then. And you read still; you have time.
human
Not those books, she replied, with a laugh.
gpt
Those belong to the last generation.
human
That is where I belong, he said, smiling also.
gpt
I don't think I have read a book, not really read it, in ten years. This modern stuff that pretends to give life is so much less exciting than my own daily experience that I cannot get interested in it. Perhaps I could read these calm old books.
human
It is the newspapers that take your time,
gpt
Yes, they pass the time when I am thinking. And they are full of suggestions. I suppose they are as accurate about other things as about me. I used to think I would make this library the choicest in the city. It is good as far as it goes. Perhaps I will take it up some day--if I live.
human
Uncle Jerry is successful too, and he never did care for anything else--except his family. There is a clerk in my office on five thousand a year who is never without a book when he comes to the office and when I see him on the train. He has a wife and a nice little family in Jersey. I ask him sometimes about his reading. He is collecting a library, but not of rare books; says he cannot afford that. I think he is successful too, or will be if he never gets more than five thousand a year, and is content with his books and his little daily life, coming and going to his family. Ah, well! Everybody must live his life. I suppose there is some explanation of it all.
gpt
Has anything gone wrong?
human
No, not at all. Nothing to interfere with the house of gold. He spoke quite gently and sincerely.
gpt
I don't know what set me into this moralizing. Let's look at the plans.