human
Wayne?
gpt
Yes? What is it, Katie? Just what brand of boredom are you planning to inflict?
human
You can be _so_ nice, Wayne--when you want to be.
gpt
I presume there are times when you can't help being a brute, Wayne; but I do hope to-night will not be one of them.
human
Why it must be something very horrible indeed, that you must approach with all this flaunting of diplomacy.
gpt
It is something a long way from horrible, I assure you, she replied with dignity.
human
Ann will be down for dinner to-night, Wayne.
gpt
Through sleeping?
human
Wayne--I'm in earnest. Please don't get yourself into a hateful mood!
gpt
I am conscious that feminine wiles are being exercised upon me. I wonder--why?
human
Because I am so anxious you should like Ann, Wayne, and--be nice to her.
gpt
Why?
human
Because of what she means to me, I suppose.
gpt
And what does she mean to you, Katie?
human
Ann is different from all the other girls I've known. She means--something different.
gpt
Strange I've never heard you speak of her.
human
I think you have, and have forgotten. Though possibly not--just because of the way I feel about her. She paused, seeking to express how she felt about her. Unable to do so, she concluded simply:
gpt
I have a very tender feeling for Ann.
human
I see you have, he replied quietly. He looked at her meditatively, and then asked, humorously but gently:
gpt
Well Katie, what were you expecting me to do? Order her out of the house?
human
But I want you to be more than civil, Wayne; I want you to be sympathetic.
gpt
I'll be civil and you can bring Prescott on for the sympathetic, he laughed.
human
You know I haven't great founts of sympathy gushing up in my heart for the _jeune fille_.
gpt
Ann's not the _jeune fille_, Wayne. She's something far more interesting and worth while than that. She paused, again trying to get it, but could do no better than:
human
I sometimes think of Ann as sitting a little apart, listening to beautiful music.
gpt
I can only reply to that, Katie, that I trust she is more inviting than your pictures of her. A young woman who looked as though sitting apart listening to beautiful music should certainly be left sitting apart.
human
I'll bring her down, laughed Kate, rising;
gpt
I'll be decent, Katie,