human
It isn't bearable, she said.
gpt
Life under these conditions is too disagreeable. I don't complain of her never noticing all the little sacrifices one makes--all the trouble one takes for her sake. But when she's absolutely rude--just vulgarly, grossly rude as she was this evening----
human
Miss Bennett, said Bobby seriously,
gpt
But someone must teach her that she can't behave like that. I can't do it. I can only teach by being kind--endlessly kind--and she can't learn from that. So the best thing for both of us is for me to leave her and let someone else try.
human
No one can teach her, dear Benny, he said.
gpt
But life can--and will. That's my particular nightmare--that people like Lydia get broken by life--and it's always such a smash. That's why I'm content to stand by without, as most of my friends think, due regard for my own self-respect. That's why I do hope you'll contrive to. That's why she seems to me the most pathetic person I know. She almost makes me cry.
human
Pathetic!
gpt
Yes, like a child playing with a dynamite fuse. Even to-night she seemed to me pathetic. She can't afford to alienate the few people who really care for her--you and Eleanor and--well, of course, she won't alienate me, whatever she does.
human
But she takes advantage of our affection,
gpt
You bet she does! he said.
human
She'll have something bitter waiting for me now when I go down, something she'll have forgotten by to-morrow and I'll remember as long as I live.
gpt
Well, she said,
human
Broken's the word,
gpt
Isn't Eleanor absurd? said Lydia.
human
She loves so to be superior--'Order my carriage'--like the virtuous duchess in a melodrama.
gpt
She doesn't seem absurd to me,
human
Oh, you've been tiptoeing about binding up everybody's wounds, I suppose, she answered.
gpt
Did you tell them that you knew I didn't mean a word I said? Ah, yes, I see you did. Well, I did mean every single word, and more. Upon my word, I wish you'd mind your own business, Bobby.
human
I will,