human
What a beautiful story, Grace! said Valencia.
gpt
You will surpass Hans Anderssen some day.
human
It is not my own, my lady.
gpt
Not your own? I should have thought that no one but you and Anderssen could have made such an ending to it.
human
Would you like to hear the children repeat a hymn, my lady?
gpt
No. I want to know where that story came from.
human
I know where, said Campbell.
gpt
You need not be ashamed of having read the book, Miss Harvey. I doubt not that you took all the good from it, and none of the harm, if harm there be.
human
It was a foolish romance-book, sir, as you seem to know. It was the only one which I ever read, except Hans Anderssen's,--which are not romances, after all. But the beginning was so full of God's truth, sir, --romance though it was,--and gave me such precious new light about educating children, that I was led on unawares. I hope I was not wrong.
gpt
This schoolroom proves that you were not, said Campbell.
human
What is this mysterious book? I must know!
gpt
A very noble romance, which I made Mellot read once, containing the ideal education of an English nobleman, in the middle of the last century.
human
The Fool of Quality? said Mellot.
gpt
Of course! I thought I had heard the story before. What a well-written book it is, too, in spite of all extravagance and prolixity. And how wonderfully ahead of his generation the man who wrote it, in politics as well as in religion!
human
I must read it, said Valencia.
gpt
You must lend it me, Saint Père.
human
Not yet, I think.
gpt
Why? whispered she, pouting.
human
I suppose I am not as pure as Grace Harvey?
gpt
She has the children to educate, who are in daily contact with coarse sins, of which you know nothing--of which she cannot help knowing. It was written in an age when the morals of our class (more shame to us) were on the same level with the morals of her class now. Let it alone. I often have fancied I should edit a corrected edition of it. When I do, you shall read that.
human
Now, Miss Harvey, said Mellot, who had never taken his eyes off her face,
gpt
I want to turn schoolmaster, and give your children a drawing lesson. Get your slates, all of you!