human
I had a letter from the Bryce Cricket to-day. She sent her love to you,
gpt
Thanks. She writes you, does she?
human
Yes, the little idiot.
gpt
Are her parents back yet?
human
They all come next week.
gpt
You begin the portraits then?
human
I suppose so.
gpt
Miss Morton is very lovely, you will like painting her.
human
Women are a great bother, Jane Judd,
gpt
Like men.
human
This is good. It has a sort of haunting quality, that is yours.
gpt
Jerry, you are home!
human
Bobs! Welcome back! My eye, it's fine to see you. I nearly died of loneliness.
gpt
Did you? Did you miss me?
human
Rather. Ask Jane.
gpt
Oh, good-morning, Jane Judd,
human
Jerry, how well you look. Did you have a good time?
gpt
So-so.
human
You came back sooner than I expected you.
gpt
Yes--I wanted to get to work.
human
Are you engaged to Miss Morton?
gpt
Nonsense! Of course not.
human
Oh, I'm so glad,
gpt
How was the Philadelphia show, Bobs?
human
Good. I got a first.
gpt
What? And you stand here babbling about my doings when you got a first? Why, bless your old heart, I'm crazy about it!
human
Are you glad, Jerry?
gpt
I'm delighted. I'm proud of you.
human
What is it, honey-girl? What is the matter?
gpt
Oh, it's nothing. Only I'm so glad you're pleased, and so relieved you aren't engaged to Miss Morton.
human
Bobs, you goose----
gpt
I just couldn't stand it, Jerry, to have you married to just a rich woman.
human
I'm not going to marry any rich woman, Bobs, you can count on that. They are all too full of themselves. The only woman I shall ever marry will have just one career.
gpt
What, Jerry?
human
Her career will be Jerry Paxton! Selfish, if you like, but that is the only way I can ever get away with matrimony. I don't like marriage, I hate being tied down, you know how I hate it. If I married a woman with a career of her own, with the independence and egotism which come to women with careers, why-- Lord, Bobs, I'd end by murdering her!
gpt
You're the most selfish human being in the world, Jerry!
human
No, I'm like the majority of men, only I say it out and the rest keep it dark.
gpt
But you can't pick out the person you intend to love, Jerry. It doesn't happen that way. Love gets you, torments you, numbs your brain, upsets your mind.
human
He won't get me, Bobs. I'm on guard.
gpt
Some of us go on guard too late, Jerry.
human
Look here, old lady, it isn't like you to talk this sort of stuff. Buck up! Love isn't life; it's just one incident of it. Work is the real thing, you and I both know that, and matrimony plays the devil with an artist's work, so it's not for us.
gpt
Jerry, you--you beast!