human
Sanders, said the banker,
gpt
I want your advice on a matter of great importance and concern to me.
human
Briefly as possible, I am much exercised about my daughter.
gpt
Who is the man?
human
He is the violinist who has created such a sensation here, Angelo Diotti.
gpt
Yes, I've seen the name in print,
human
He has bewitched Mildred. I never have seen her show the least interest in a man before. She never has appeared to me as an impressionable girl or one that could easily be won.
gpt
That is very true, ejaculated Sanders;
human
And mine until now, said the father, and then he recounted his experience of the night before.
gpt
I had hoped she would not fall in love, but be a prop and comfort to me now that I am alone. I am dismayed at the prospect before me.
human
In the chrysalis state of girlhood, a parent arranges all the details of his daughter's future; when and whom she shall marry. 'I shall not allow her to fall in love until she is twenty-three,' says the fond parent. 'I shall not allow her to marry until she is twenty-six,' says the fond parent. 'The man she marries will be the one I approve of, and then she will live happy ever after,' concludes the fond parent.
gpt
Well, what are you going to do about it?
human
We must find some means to end this attachment. A union between a musician and my daughter would be most mortifying to me. Some plan must be devised to separate them, but she must not know of it, for she is impatient of restraint and will not brook opposition.
gpt
Are you confident she really loves this violinist?
human
She confessed as much to me,
gpt
Are you confident he loves her?
human
No. Even if he does not, he no doubt makes the pretense, and she believes him. A man who fiddles for money is not likely to ignore an opportunity to angle for the same commodity,
gpt
Does she know that you do not approve of this man?
human
I told her that I desired the musician's visits to cease.
gpt
And her answer?
human
She said she would obey me if I could name one reasonable objection to the man, and then, with an air of absolute confidence in the impossibility of such a contingency, added, 'But you can not.'
gpt
Yes, but you must, said Sanders.
human
Mildred is strangely constituted. If she loves this man, her love can be more deadly to the choice of her heart than her hate to one she abhors. The impatience of restraint you speak of and her very inability to brook opposition can be turned to good account now.
gpt
Your plan?
human
I would like to study them together. Your position will be stronger with Mildred if you show no open opposition to the man or his aspirations; bring us together at your house some evening, and if I can not enter a wedge of discontent, then they are not as others.