human
Jane, he said one day,
gpt
Am I?
human
I think that's why I married you.
gpt
So many men marry for that reason.
human
Jane, Jane, how you do prick my bubbles of conceit. They snap around me all the time.
gpt
It's quite unintentional,
human
So much the worse. Just how conceited do you think me, Jane?
gpt
I've known one man _more_ conceited.
human
Jane, did I say you were comfortable?
gpt
I don't want to be _too_ comfortable. That's dull, don't you think?
human
Don't worry about being dull.
gpt
You're getting very handsome,
human
Why not? I'm well, and so content.
gpt
Are you contented, Jane?
human
Like a cat in the sun. I have a saucer of cream three times a day, and a coloured ball to play with.
gpt
And only a puppy, named Jerry, to bother you?
human
I don't mind him. I just stretch and yawn when he barks at me,
gpt
I'll paint you with long slits in your eyes, if you don't look out,
human
Ask her by all means, but I doubt if she will come. She has it in for me.
gpt
She needs rest and normal living. She's all nerves on edge. She's done a big piece of work, enough to wear any one out.
human
She has lots of talent.
gpt
She has genius, Jerry.
human
I wouldn't go that far.
gpt
I would. Martin Christiansen says this 'Woman' group is a masterpiece. He ranked her with Manship and the best of the young sculptors.
human
What do you know about young sculptors?
gpt
Not much. I've been studying sculpture this winter, especially the moderns, with Bobs.
human
What do you think of them?
gpt
They interest me extremely. I supposed that I did not respond to sculpture, but these modern men are expressing thought, not merely form. I have spent hours with the Rodin figures at the Metropolitan--hours of refreshment.
human
Is Christiansen going to make a critic of you?
gpt
No. He couldn't. I have no critical sense at all. I only respond to the things I understand, or the things I vision spiritually, without understanding.
human
Have you interested yourself in painting, too?
gpt
Yes. Bobs and Mr. Christiansen both say that I react to the right things for the most part. But I'm hopeless when it comes to some of the old masters. Rubens, for instance. How I do hate his obese people! I don't care how well he can paint, because I hate what he paints.
human
There's hope for you, Jane, if you admit at the start that you are a heretic.
gpt
I have to tell the truth. I am not clever enough to bluff.
human
So you think that Bobs is a genius.
gpt
Yes. I feel that she has the divine fire.
human
Has she sold anything this winter?
gpt
I think not.
human
How does she get along?
gpt
Borrows the rent, eats around with anybody who has food. When she sells something she will repay it two-fold.
human
Poor old Bobs! Ask her down by all means.
gpt
She's splendid, I think.
human
But you wouldn't like to live as she does.
gpt
I would not care, if my spirit were growing as hers is.
human
You'd miss your cream, Kitty, and your sunny garden.
gpt
Yes, but the whole world would gain by my loss.
human
I wonder if that is a comfort? Jerry mused.
gpt
Somebody ought to marry Bobs.
human
She has the usual woman's excuse for marrying.
gpt
What is that?
human
A lonely soul. I suppose men have it, too--a sort of isolation within the race, a pining to be set free from the torment of solitude. Bobs has an exceptional nature, so she is more than usually at the mercy of suffering; her needs are intensified.
gpt
She has all sorts of ideas, you know, about freedom in love, the right to motherhood, and all the rest of it. That's what's the matter with her; she's got a lot of crank notions that won't work out.
human
What's the matter?
gpt
I was wondering if you had considered Bobs's ideas seriously enough to damn them so finally.
human
No, I haven't. I have no patience with them.
gpt
Look here, Jane, don't treat me like the little boy who upset the jam!
human
Don't talk like him, then, little boy Jerry,