human
I think, said Jack--he was holding both her hands with a swinging motion--when she came forward to greet him, and looking at her critically--
gpt
I think I like you better in New York than in Washington.
human
That is because you see more of me here.
gpt
Oh, I saw you enough in Washington.
human
But that was my public manner. I have to live up to Mr. Henderson's reputation.
gpt
And here you only have to live up to mine?
human
I can live for my friends, she replied, with an air of candor, giving a very perceptible pressure with her little hands.
gpt
Isn't that enough?
human
And how does the house get on?
gpt
Famously. The lot is bought. Mr. Van Brunt was here all the morning. It's going to be something Oriental, mediaeval, nineteenth-century, gorgeous, and domestic. Van Brunt says he wants it to represent me.
human
How? inquired Jack;
gpt
With an interior unity--all the styles brought to express an individual taste, don't you know. A different house from the four sides of approach, and inside, home--that's the idea.
human
It appears to me, said Jack, still bantering,
gpt
That is just what it will not--that is, outside unity, and inside a menagerie. This won't look gregarious. It is to have not more than three stories, perhaps only two. And then exterior color, decoration, statuary.
human
And gold?
gpt
Not too much--not to give it a cheap gilded look. Oh, I asked him about Nero's house. As I remember it, that was mostly caverns. Mr. Van Brunt laughed, and said they were not going to excavate this house. The Roman notion was barbarous grandeur. But in point of beauty and luxury, this would be as much superior to Nero's house as the electric light is to a Roman lamp.
human
Not classic, then?
gpt
Why, all that's good in classic form, with the modern spirit. You ought to hear Mr. Van Brunt talk. This country has never yet expressed itself in domestic inhabitation.
human
It's going to cost! What does Mr. Henderson say?
gpt
I think he rather likes it. He told Mr. Van Brunt to consult me and go ahead with his plans. But he talks queerly. He said he thought he would have money enough at least for the foundation. Do you think, Jack, asked Carmen, with a sudden change of manner,
human
Some people say so. Really, I don't know how any one can tell. If he let go his hand from his affairs, I don't know what a panic would do.
gpt
He said to me once that he wasn't afraid of the Street any more. I told him this morning that I didn't want to begin this if it was going to incommode him.
human
What did he say?
gpt
He was just going out. He looked at me a moment with that speculative sort of look-no, it isn't cynical, as you say; I know it so well--and then said: 'Oh, go ahead. I guess it will be all right. If anything happens, you can turn it into a boardinghouse. It will be an excellent sanitarium.' That was all. Anyway, it's something to do. Come, let's go and see the place.