human
As a matter of fact, just between you and me, the Governor is an invalid.
gpt
Impossible!
human
Alas! It is only too true. He's got a very, very rare disease, said the young man sadly.
gpt
Promise you won't tell?
human
Y-yes,
gpt
Then I will confide in you, said the young man impressively.
human
The Governor is threatened with a serious cardiac affection, known as Lamour's disease.
gpt
Is that true--Captain Jones?
human
As true as that I am his Military Secretary.
gpt
I see, she said seriously.
human
Professor Challis ought to know of this sad condition of affairs. I have heard of Lamour's disease.
gpt
Indeed, she ought to be told at once, he said, delighted.
human
You'll inform her, won't you?
gpt
If you wish.
human
Thank you! _Thank_ you! he said fervently.
gpt
You are certainly the most charmingly reasonable of your delightful sex. The Governor will be tremendously obliged to you----
human
Is the Governor--are his--his affections--to use an obsolete expression--fixed upon any particular----
gpt
Oh, no! he said, smiling;
human
he added in a burst of confidence,
gpt
Which, of course, is not at all,
human
Oh, no--no, not at all----
gpt
I'll tell you one thing, he said;
human
Cured of his cardiac trouble?--this disease known as Lamour's disease?
gpt
Exactly. If he ever did recover, he--I'm quite sure he would be----
human
I wonder what your name is?
gpt
My name, she said,
human
I hope we will remain on pleasant terms,
gpt
I hope so, Captain Jones.
human
Non-combatants?
gpt
I trust so.
human
Even f-friends?
gpt
Then you'll give me back the papers?
human
I'm sorry.
gpt
Sorry for taking them?
human
No, sorry for keeping them.
gpt
You don't mean to say that you are going to keep them, Miss Smith?
human
I'm afraid I must. My duty forces me to deliver them to Professor Challis.
gpt
But why does this terrible and strapping young lady desire to swipe the draft of this bill?
human
Because it contains the evidence of a wicked conspiracy between the Governor of New York, the Mayor of this city, and an abandoned legislature. The women of America ought to know what threatens them before this bill is perfected and introduced. And before they will permit it to be debated and passed they are determined to march on Albany, half a million strong, as did the heroines of Versailles!
gpt
What do they suspect is in that bill?
human
We are not yet perfectly sure. We believe it is an insidious attempt to sow dissension in the ranks of our sex--a bill cunningly devised to create jealousy and unworthy distrust among us--an ingenious and inhuman conspiracy to disorganize the National Federation of Free and Independent Women.
gpt
Nonsense, he said.
human
The bill, when perfected, is designed to give you what you want.
gpt
What!
human
Certainly; votes for women.
gpt
On what terms?
human
Terms? Oh, no particular terms. I wouldn't call them 'terms,' he said craftily;
gpt
It certainly does.
human
Of course. There are no terms in it. It's a--a sort of a civil service idea--a kind of a qualification for the franchise----
gpt
Oh!
human
Yes, he continued pleasantly,
gpt
Oh, the examination papers are on various subjects. One is chemistry.
human
Chemistry?
gpt
Yes--that part of organic chemistry which includes the scientific preparation of--er--food.
human
Yes, he said,
gpt
What kind?
human
Oh, the--the proposition that nature abhors a vacuum. You're to prove it--you're given a certain area--say a bed-room full of dust. Then you apply to it----
gpt
I see, she said;
human
Or, he admitted courteously,
gpt
Of course--using a broom.
human
Do you know, he said, as pleasantly as he dared,
gpt
Because I'm intelligent enough to comprehend the subtleties of this--bill?
human
Exactly.
gpt
Thank you. And what else do these examination papers contain?
human
Physics mostly--the properties of solid bodies. For example, you choose a button--any ordinary button, he explained frankly, as though taking her into his confidence;
gpt
And sew it onto some masculine shirt, she nodded as he sank back apparently overcome with admiration at her intelligence.
human
And that, she added,
gpt
You are perfectly correct,
human
What else is there?
gpt
Oh, nothing--nothing very much. A few experiments in bacteriology----
human
Sterilizing nursing bottles?
gpt
How on earth did you ever guess? he cried, overwhelmed, but perfectly alert to the kindling anger in her blue eyes.
human
Why, of course that is it. It is included in the science of embryotics--
gpt
What science?
human
Embryotics. For instance, you take an embryo of any kind--say a--a baby. Then you show exactly how to dress, undress, wash, feed, and finally bring that baby to triumphant maturity. It's interesting, isn't it, Miss Smith?
gpt
Captain Jones, she said,
human
I--I would not put it _that_ way,
gpt
And her reward, she went on, not noticing his interruption,
human
Captain Jones, she said,
gpt
she said, tremulously,
human
I'm terribly sorry you feel this way,
gpt
Do you know, he said,
human
What do you mean?
gpt
This attitude of women.
human
Is it more odious than the attitude of men?
gpt
After all, he said,
human
Not all of the intellectual fighting.
gpt
No, of course not. But--you don't want him to rock the cradle, do you?
human
Cradles are no longer rocked, Captain Jones. I don't think _you_ would be qualified to pass this examination with which you menace us.
gpt
I wish I could talk to you--to such a man as you seem to be--sensibly, without rancour, without personal enmity or prejudice----
human
Can't you?
gpt
Why, yes. _I_ can. But--I am not sure what _your_ attitude----
human
It is friendly, he said, looking at her.
gpt
I am perfectly hap--I mean willing to listen to you. Only, sooner or later, you must return to me those papers.
human
Why?
gpt
The Governor entrusted them to me officially----
human
But you--your Governor I mean--can frame another similar bill.
gpt
I'm a soldier in uniform, he said dramatically.
human
My duty is to guard those papers with my life!
gpt
I am a soldier, too, she said proudly,
human
Very well, he said,
gpt
I do. Only brute violence can deprive me of these papers.
human
That, he said,
gpt
It is no more shameful than the mental violence to which you have subjected us through centuries. Anyway, you're not strong enough to get them from me.
human
Do you expect me to seize you and twist your arm until you drop those papers?
gpt
You can never have them otherwise. Try it!