human
Were you at least happy in those days, Alice?
gpt
You know I am always happy, Richard.
human
Oh yes, yes; I know your philosophy. But I meant happy with me, through me?
gpt
I hardly think so, Richard, she said after an interval.
human
I was too much afraid of you ... I seemed so stupid in comparison to you and I feared that you would despise me.
gpt
That fear, at least, you have overcome very thoroughly?
human
Not wholly, Richard. Things have only shifted their basis. Just as, in those days, I felt ashamed of my ignorance, so now I feel ashamed--no, that isn't the right word.... But all this stuff that I store up in my head seems to weigh upon me in my relations with you. I seem to be a nuisance with it.... You men, especially mature men like yourself, seem to know all these things better, even when you don't know them.... The precise form in which a given thought is presented to us may be new to you, but the thought itself you have long digested. It's for this reason that I feel intimidated whenever I approach you with my pursuits. 'You might better have held your peace,' I say to myself. But what am I to do? I'm so profoundly interested!
gpt
So you really need the society of a rather stupid fellow, one to whom all this is new and who will furnish a grateful audience?
human
Stupid? No, she answered,
gpt
Strange how she sees through me, he reflected,
human
I wonder she clings to me as she does.