book_id
stringlengths 2
6
| title
stringclasses 1
value | author
stringclasses 1
value | conversations
listlengths 1
5.07k
|
|---|---|---|---|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Something is going to happen,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It seems to me, said he,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah, said the pipsissawa,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have always thought it better to have your seeds ripe and put away under ground before the snow comes. Then you do not mind it at all."
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is nothing, he said to the sapling firs,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I beg your pardon, I took you for a flower,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, why don't you grow flowers? said the meadowsweet;"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I suppose, he said one day,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I must be in some way different from the rest of you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah, that is the way with you solemn people, said the fireweed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "only"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You should try to be natural, said the meadowsweet;"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If only you were not so odd,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I suppose, he thought,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is simply that you wish to be considered peculiar, said the columbine;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But I am not, he said;"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, if it is any satisfaction to you to think so; but do not let any one else hear you say that. You are likely to get yourself misunderstood. I tell you this because I am your friend,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do not laugh too soon, said the alder tree,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have seen stranger things than that happen in this meadow,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We have known him a good many seasons, said the fireweed,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That is all very pretty, as you say, answered the ranger as they came by the place of the pine,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What is it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A sugar pine, he said;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But you must admit, said his friend,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, you wait fifty or sixty years, said the ranger,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah, well, he said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I told you so."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I will not believe it until I see it,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They might have known it before, sighed the young pine,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He grew here in our neighborhood, said the tall lilies;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Suppose he is, said the fireweed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is the good of a pine tree anyway?"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If I sleep I shall freeze,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have expected you long,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And now I have come,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Have you brought the luck again?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Come and see,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You bear me no ill-will for what I did?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "None."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have wished it undone many times, said the old man."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have tried this night to repay it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By what you have done this night I am repaid,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It was only a sheep."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was one of God's creatures,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is a worthless lode, they said,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Else why, said he,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is very tiresome to look at the same things for four hundred years, said the white-barked pine."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If I could only get to the top, now. Do tell me, what is it like on the other side?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh! said the wind,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is all meadows and hills, only sometimes the grass is not so good there, and again sometimes it is better. It is very much like this."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I do not believe them, said the pine to himself."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They are simply trying to console me for not realizing my ambition. But I am not a sapling any longer, let me tell you that."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "At least, said a young tree that grew a little farther down,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of what use is that if I do not get to the top? said the unhappy pine."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is a bunch of blue flowers there, I can see it quite plainly just where the trail dips over the ridge. Surely I am as capable of climbing as any blue weed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, said the young pine,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, as for cones, cried the tree quite crossly,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We must do the best we can,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah! Ah! said the tree,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, we are rid of his complaining, said the pine who stood next to him,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh! Oh! cried the pine as the flames caught hold of it,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How that green wood sputters! said the man;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah, is that you? they said;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How ignorant you are, said the ash of the white-barked pine,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You come see rabbit drive,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tell me what it is they do,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is the net which they set with forked stakes of willow,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "chuckled the Basket Woman."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But what is it all about?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "laughed the Basket Woman."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Wait and I will tell you the story of that song, for it is so that every song has its story, without which no one may understand it. It is not well to go too near the guns; sit you here and I will tell."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Long and long ago, said the Basket Woman,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "said the Basket Woman,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "and she reached out and plucked a tall stem of it growing beside her, white flowered and slender, with fine leaves like grass."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then they broke it so, and she laid it across a stone and beat it lightly with a stick,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thus was the string made and afterward woven into nets. The mesh of the net was just enough to let a rabbit's head through, but not his body, and the net was a little wider than a rabbit's jump when he goes fast and fleeing, and long enough to stretch half across the world. So on a day the net was set and the drive was begun as you have seen it, and as the Indians went they remembered their anger and taunted the rabbit people. So the song of _Na'ÿang-wit'e_ was made. Now let us go and see how it fares with the rabbit people, for as it was of old so will it be to-day."
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is little Tavwots, said she,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Alan's mind still ran on the story of the first drive."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But is it true?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now this is the sign I shall give you that the tale is true, said the Basket Woman."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ever since that day if one of the rabbit people meets an Indian in the trail he flees before him as you saw them flee to-day, and that is because of _na'ÿang-wit'e_ and the first rabbit drive."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "WICKIUP,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Its mother is dead,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "See how greedy it is, she said;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Tell her, he said,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But I have a name, said Walter,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Very long ago all the Paiutes of this valley were ruled by two brothers, a chief and a medicine man, Winnedumah and Tinnemaha. They were both very wise, and one of them never did anything without the other. They taught the tribes not to war upon each other, but to stand fast as brothers, and so they brought peace into the land. At that time there were no white people heard of, and game was plenty. The young honored the old, and nothing was as it is now."
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now when that befell, went on the arrow-maker,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "said the arrow-maker,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Upon Waban where the fighting was, there must be a great many arrow points,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So there must be,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Let us go after them,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How near would you go?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "As near as a strong man might shoot an arrow,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If you will go so far, said Walter,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I will go the rest of the way."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is a two days' journey,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If I were fifteen, and had my rifle, I would not be afraid of anything,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But in that case we would not need to go after arrow points,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is like the false water in the desert, said Walter."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It goes farther from you, and when you get to it there is no water there."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is magic medicine, said Indian Joe."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No good comes of going against medicine."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you are afraid, said Walter,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are we lost?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We are lost for to-night, said Joe,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why do we not see the stone any more?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I do not know, said Joe."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think it has gone away."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Will he come after us?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I do not know. I have on my elk's tooth,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Joe, said Walter,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am sorry I said that you were afraid."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is nothing, said the Paiute."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Besides, I am afraid."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "So am I, whispered the other."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Joe, he said again after a long silence,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We will stay by each other."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Like the two brothers, whatever happens, said the white boy,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We are two brothers,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Will you swear it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "On my elk's tooth."
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hear some one walking,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is the wind among the pines,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is that?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is a fox or a coyote passing,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do not kill us!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "White,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We are brothers, said Joe;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Until we die,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A white man, he said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come, I will take you to your people. They search for you about the foot of Waban. These three hours I have watched you and them."
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I cannot carry both,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am the older, said Joe;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can walk."
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That, said the Indian,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Look you, he said,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Without a doubt, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, he said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We will,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Learn to shoot quickly and well, he said,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "See, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My father promised it to me many years ago, said Walter."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is my birthday gift."
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You may have my rifle to use as often as you like, said Walter,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The white men do not need any one to help them get into trouble, said Joe."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They can do that for themselves."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is the fault of the Indians, said Walter."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If they did not shoot the cattle, the white men would leave them alone."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But if the white men come first to our lands with noise and trampling and scare away the game, what then will they shoot?"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is it true, he said after a while,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How should I know? said Joe;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am only a boy, and have not killed big game. I am not admitted to the counsels of the old men. What does it matter to us whether of old feuds or new? Are we not brothers sworn?"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My boy, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wish you would not plan long trips like this without first speaking to me. It is hardly safe in the present state of feeling among the Indians to let you go with them in this fashion. A whole week, too. But as you have already spoken of it, and it has probably been talked over in the campoodie, for me to refuse now would look as if I suspected something, and might bring about the thing I most fear."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You should not be afraid for me with Joe, father, for we are brothers sworn,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said Mr. Baker, who had not heard of this before,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know that they set great store by these superstitious customs, but I have not much faith in the word of a Paiute when he is dealing with a white man. However, you had better go on with this hunting trip. Take Hank with you, and Joe's father, and do not be gone more than five days at the outside."
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Joe, said Walter,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That is the speech of a white man,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But would you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am a Paiute, said Joe;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I will hold by my people, also by my word; I will not fight against you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nor I against you, but I would not like to have my father think you had broken your word."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Have no care, said the Indian,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I will not break it."
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Signal fires, said Hank;"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Joe, said Walter whisperingly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And you will fight; otherwise they will call you a coward, and if you run away, they will kill you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So I suppose,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Or they will make you wear a woman's dress like To-go-na-tee, the man who got up too late. This was a reminder from one of the arrow-maker's tales."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But you have promised not to fight."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Look you, said the Indian boy;"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What will you have?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My son,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is there war?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There is war. Come, Walter."
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do them no harm,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Good-by, Joe,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I will not forget, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I, too, will be faithful."
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Coward,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Save your arrows,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No son of mine,"
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We have enough of killing, said the one called Scar-Face."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let him have a woman's dress and stay to mend the fire."
}
]
|
35502 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Weeper,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "O Thou, My Austria!"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mrs. A. L. Wister, through her many translations of novels from the German, has established a reputation of the highest order for literary judgment, and for a long time her name upon the title-page of such a translation has been a sufficient guarantee to the lovers of fiction of a pure and elevating character, that the novel would be a cherished home favorite. This faith in Mrs. Wister is fully justified by the fact that among her more than thirty translations that have been published by Lippincott's there has not been a single disappointment. And to the exquisite judgment of selection is to be added the rare excellence of her translations, which has commanded the admiration of literary and linguistic scholars."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "THE SECOND WIFE,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ONLY A GIRL,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The girl has just got home from boarding-school, and will have a _dot_ of half a million in cash,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The deuce she will! No end of pity that I am such an infernal aristocrat,--it would be such a fine morsel for a poor younger son, said the younger of the Von Eichhof brothers, with a laugh, as he stroked his blonde moustache."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She has a good figure, too, and any amount of fire in her eyes."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "True, said his elder brother;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Take warning, Hohenstein,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Pshaw! there's no danger,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Councillor Kohnheim greeted you with extreme affability, I thought, just now, and you are well informed as to the financial affairs of the family,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Kohnheim thinks wealth no disgrace, and loves to acquaint people with the amount of his own, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Besides, he is my landlord; of course we are acquainted. To my German eyes, however, the ladies are of too Oriental a type. I have no desire to know them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thank heaven! then there is nothing to fear from that quarter. I confess it vexes me when one of our good old names is allied to such a family."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Make your mind easy on my account, rejoined Herr von Hohenstein."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I do not undervalue wealth, but I prize blood rather more."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Marzell Wronsky? Lothar repeated."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where? But as he spoke he discovered him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I did not know he had come back! he exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wonder if the handsome blonde beside him is his wife?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Probably, said Hohenstein."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where does the lady come from? Marzell's marriage was so sudden that one hardly knows anything about it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She is a kind of cousin of his, said Lothar,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And where has he been hiding since?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He has been travelling with his bride. I must go over and see them in the next entr'acte. You will come, too?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course; this new addition to society must be inspected."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, are you not coming? asked Lothar"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Marzell is more your friend than ours. I confess I am going more from curiosity than from friendship."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They are just rising; perhaps they are going to leave the house,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, they seem to be going,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, then, I will go and reconnoitre, said Lothar,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The Wronskys are really gone. Marzell seems to have adopted high and mighty manners since his marriage. He puts in an appearance only during a single act. However, we shall certainly see his wife at Eichhof, if we should fail to meet her here."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Quite time enough for the acquaintance. I have scarcely seen Marzell since the old school-boy days, and am not at all intimate with him now,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Shall I tell you the news, Bernhard? I'm at the end of my income,--the last thaler went to-night."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Lothar, he exclaimed, reproachfully,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come, come, my dear fellow, there's no use in that, Lothar interrupted him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know as well as you do that I partake largely of the character of the domestic fly, provided, indeed, that that insect is endowed with a character. I frisk in the sunshine and buzz or grumble in the shade."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I cannot understand your jesting in such a matter, Lothar."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But what am I to do, then? the other rejoined."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Whether I indulge in poor jokes or sit in sackcloth and ashes, the confounded fact remains the same. 'All I have is gone, gone, gone,' he hummed, _sotto voce_; but suddenly he grew grave and sighed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Shall I go to-morrow to Herr Solomon Landsberger, who has often and with great kindness offered to give me his valuable assistance?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can't understand what becomes of your money. You have apartments just like mine and live very much the same life that I do."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "With the exception of the extra bills, which I dare not send to Eichhof."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know what you mean. You mean that I ought to think of the future, when our positions will be so different. I ought to consider that what is all right for the future possessor of Eichhof is supreme folly for a petty lieutenant. All true and just; but why the deuce, then, did our father put me in the same regiment with yourself? and why does every one expect exactly the same from the poor lieutenant as from the eldest son and heir? and why are people so infernally stupid as not to take into account the immense difference between us?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It was certainly unfortunate, said Bernhard,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, then, I'd better go to friend Solomon to-morrow, and try my luck with him,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't talk nonsense! he exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course I shall help you out, since, as you justly remark, I may send in extra accounts when I please; but pray listen to reason, Lothar. You know that we shall shortly cease to live here together. When I marry I can no longer place my means at your disposal as at present."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah, when Thea is your wife, I shall quarter myself upon you so soon as my money is gone. It usually lasts until the twentieth of the month, and then I shall ensconce myself in your happy home. But I have not thanked you yet. Indeed, old fellow, you are a brick of a brother. Then I need not pay my respects to friend Solomon to-morrow?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I will help you through this time, Lothar, but remember it is the last. You must learn prudence, and it is in direct opposition to my principles to encourage this perpetual getting into debt. I did not, as you know, make the laws controlling inheritance, and I cannot alter the fact that our circumstances will be very different in the future. But I say now only just what I should say were you in my place and I in yours. Every man must cut his coat according to his cloth."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And if one is a six-footer and has only a scrap of cloth, he is in a desperate case,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's no end of a pity that we must leave our charming quarters so soon,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course that is a letter from Thea. What under the sun can that little country girl have to say to him? A deuced pretty girl, and she'll make a capital wife. It's very odd that I'm not angry with her, for there's not another creature in the world so confoundedly in my way. If it were not for her, we should keep our comfortable lodgings, and Bernhard, who is certainly a trump, would go on paying my bills; and, besides, he has grown so infernally serious since he has had that little witch's betrothal-ring on his finger; before then we lived a jolly life enough. It is all Thea's fault,--his immense gravity, his ceasing to pay my debts, and our having to give up our delightful rooms. It is, therefore, Thea who prevents my enjoying my youth, as I should do otherwise, and yet, in spite of all this, I am rather fond of her. But it is not my nature to bear malice towards any woman, even although she be such an unformed little country girl as Thea, who certainly might have been content to wait a few years longer."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Bernhard, he suddenly said aloud,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I will withdraw to my inmost apartment, and leave you to your letter and to dreams of future petticoat rule."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have finished, he said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course, yawned Lothar;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes. Good-night, Lothar."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good-night, old fellow."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is too vexatious to know nothing about it all! the girl exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am almost ashamed never to have been in Berlin."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, good heavens, you are so young, Adela!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If we are to continue friends, Walter, you will not begin again about my fifteen years, of which there can be no further mention after next month, when I shall be sixteen, was the irritated reply."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am in reality much, much older, as you know, and I know that I look older. Only the other day Lieutenant Müllheim took me for eighteen; and if papa would only allow me to dress suitably, and if it were not for that stupid Almanach de Gotha that tells everybody our ages----!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That sigh would sound more natural from the lips of a lady past her prime than from those of a budding girl in her teens, he said; adding instantly, with a meaning glance at his companion,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You must not look so angry with me, Adela dear. If you refuse to allow me more license in speaking than you accord to the rest of the world, I shall address you as Fräulein von Hohenstein and think all our good-comradeship at an end. Must I do so? In fact, you certainly are too much of a great lady to be my 'good comrade' any longer."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If you want to tease me, Walter, I can't see why you came for me to ride; you might as well have stayed at home."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, then, let us be good comrades for the future, as neighbors' children ought to be,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Let us have one more canter,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It has really grown so late that I cannot come in with you, said Walter."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I must hurry home; you know we are terribly punctual about our meals at Eichhof."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, then, good-by; for only a short time, I hope,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have been gone very long, Adela, he called to her."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And it's great nonsense your riding half the day with Walter Eichhof; you're too old for such pranks."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Papa, she said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nonsense! he growled."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I may not think you old enough to wear a train, but you look sufficiently like a young lady to make people stare when they see you always with that school-boy."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I beg pardon, papa, Walter has passed his examination."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is that to me? The long and the short of it is, that I won't have you riding with him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, papa, Thea Rosen rode with Bernhard Eichhof when he was a lieutenant and she was only sixteen."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's an entirely different affair. Theresa Rosen was afterwards betrothed to Bernhard Eichhof, and has done very well for herself. But when such rides end in no betrothal they are a great folly; and if a fledgling scarcely out of the nest should have any entanglement with a young fellow who has neither money nor prospects, it would be a greater folly still; and I am not the man to allow my daughter to make such a fool of herself."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wonder whether Walter noticed that I dress my hair differently? she thought;"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He is a susceptible fellow,--he gets his temperament from me,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He is sowing his wild oats with a free hand,--a regular spendthrift,--but he gets that from me. I was just like him,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Our youngest child really should have been a daughter, he was wont to say."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Since that's impossible, they are going to make a quill-driver of him. Well, well, there's no help for it. I must make some concessions, and I had my own way with the two elder boys."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is a good thing for Walter to become familiar with the capital, and to feel at home there while he is young,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let him go to Berlin, thought the Count;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There's not much of me in him, the Count thought, smoking his cigarette, as he watched his youngest son pace the terrace to and fro,--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Are you really determined then to stick to the quill? his father asked, incredulously."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You mean to go to the university?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Most certainly, father, Walter replied, seating himself beside the Count."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And, since we are upon the subject, let me tell you that I have long desired to discuss my future career with you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Aha! you want to change the programme?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, father, it is my sincere desire to do so; but----"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, that you get from me, Walter, the Count interrupted his son, with a laugh."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I should have done just so; there's no ignoring this soldier-blood of ours."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I did not mean that, sir,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You don't mean that? he repeated."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What the deuce do you mean, then?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wish to continue my studies, but I have not the slightest predilection for the law,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What is there for one of your name save the law or the army? he asked, his expression, which had hitherto been one of amusement, suddenly becoming very serious."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You must be aware that those are the only careers open to a nobleman."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Both cost too much money and insure no independence. As a lieutenant of the Guards, or as an ambassadorial attaché, my expenses would be very great."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The like of this I never before imagined! the Count exclaimed, with a resounding slap upon his knee."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The fellow is my son, nineteen years old; and is thinking of the amount of his expenses. What the deuce put that into your head?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know that our property lies chiefly in real estate, and that Lothar uses a great deal of money,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ha, ha! laughed the Count."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are a most extraordinary specimen of an Eichhof. I can't tell where you got that economic vein; but since there it is, let me tell you something, my boy. The net income of the Eichhof estates amounts to some hundred and fifty thousand marks. I have so improved and repaired everywhere that nothing more is required in that quarter; and we are not going to Berlin any more, it is too much for your mother's nerves. Well, then, we can easily live, and live well, upon sixty thousand marks a year. Therefore, if you use only sixty thousand marks yearly for the next five years, we shall have laid up a capital of four hundred and fifty thousand marks, without reckoning the interest. Add to that about a hundred thousand marks of income derived from other sources, and--you need not tell Lothar, for he spends quite enough,--but you can easily see that you will be very comfortable one of these days. We enjoyed our youth. Age exacts less of life; it will not be hard for us to retrench our expenses somewhat. And since there never was an Eichhof who died before he was at least fifty-five,--most of them live to be seventy or eighty,--there is quite time enough to save money. Poor fellow! your prudence is quite thrown away."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are very kind to your children, sir, he began once more, after a pause;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, well, if we must discuss the matter, at least speak intelligibly, Walter, the Count exclaimed, impatiently."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What's all this about profession and science?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Father, Walter said, taking his hand and looking full into his face with sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I want to be a naturalist and a physician."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Physician? he repeated."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Physician!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are insane, Walter!"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is the only calling for which I shall ever really care, he said, warmly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Enough! exclaimed the Count, and a dark shadow clouded his usually jovial face."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Enough of this nonsense! You may be in earnest, Walter, but I,--I too am just as much in earnest, and I solemnly declare to you that I never will consent that an Eichhof--a son of mine--should embrace such a senseless career. I will not have it; do you understand? I will not have it; and my will must be your law."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I knew it, he murmured,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, that was the first attack, and it has been repulsed. Now for besieging the fortress, which may yield at last."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The boys must be entertained when they come home,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Adela is playing the young lady, I see,--she really coquetted with me to-day, he said to himself;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She certainly has grown extremely pretty of late,--there is no doubt of that,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A wonderful young fellow! He has a brilliant career before him!"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thea is 'fearfully happy,'"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What do you think of young Madame Wronsky? was a question often whispered at this dinner behind a lady's fan or in the recess of some window. The answer would consist either of a shrug of the shoulders and an elevation of the eyebrows, signifying 'not much,' or in the whispered reply,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Very elegant, yes, undeniably elegant, but not at all handsome; scarcely good-looking. Why, she has red hair and green eyes, and then she is so very pale."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A striking creature, the Wronsky, was heard from Lieutenant Hohenstein,--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A perfect Undine, murmured the Assessor von Schönburg;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Schönburg is off on his old romantic track, laughed Lieutenant von Z."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I rather think your fair Undine is quite capable of giving an eager admirer a bath of very cold water; there is something absolutely freezing in her eye at times, and she has a way of throwing back her head that reminds one of an obstinate horse."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A profane simile!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In what capital taste the Wronsky was dressed! came from the other side of the table."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Everything about her is so _chic_. She's a great acquisition to the neighbourhood."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Still, she is not regularly beautiful,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are either in love with her, or she has treated you badly, he said, in a low tone."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I tell you that if the Wronskys go to Berlin next year, as Marzell says they think of doing, that woman will create a perfect _furor_. Remember this."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How reserved and haughty she looks!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I do not think her attractive, he rejoined."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I cannot conceive how Marzell Wronsky could ever fall in love with that woman."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is a pity you do not like her."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You never could be friends with her, my darling."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why not?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why not? I can hardly tell you; it's a matter of sentiment. You are my rosebud, you know, and the Countess Wronsky, if she can be likened to any flower, resembles one of those strange, unnatural orchids."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, at all events, an orchid is far more distinguished than a poor little rose, that only needs a little sunlight to blossom and grow, while the grander flower must be petted in a hot-house."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do not talk so, said Bernhard, closing her lips with a kiss in the solitude of the conservatory."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I will not have you compared with that woman. What is she to us? You are and always will be my May rose, and I wish May were here, and that we were married. We will have charming apartments in a villa in the Thiergarten, with roses blossoming all over the door, and a wild grape-vine growing about the windows to the very roof. Such a pretty, comfortable, cosey nest as it shall be, with a boudoir---- But no, I'll tell you nothing about that; it shall be a surprise."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "and"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A delightful surprise this for the young people,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We must entertain our children, the Count replied, with a smile;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have been rather sly about this evening, however, my dear Count, the lady continued."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If I had known that our pleasant dinner was to be followed by a small ball, I should have left my little Alma at home. She was, as you know, confirmed but very lately."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All the better then that you did not know it, he replied;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Adela is too precocious; but then the poor child has no mother, and has been forced to judge for herself and to depend upon her own intuitions now for so many years."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And if she should be betrothed at eighteen, like our Thea, it is well that she should begin to enjoy herself now. I like to see these very young girls about us. Oho! _changement de dames_,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Your governor dances famously,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, he is as light on his feet as any one of us. The Wronsky dances well."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Just wait, my son, and you'll see what you will see. Then think of me!"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You may rely upon my silence, but I impose certain conditions. Confine your intercourse with us within as narrow bounds as is possible without exciting remark, and never, never attempt to make friends with my future wife!"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good-night, Herr von Eichhof,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Did she really suppose until this moment that I had not recognized her? he thought."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She certainly betrayed herself by no look or gesture. Poor Wronsky, how could he----"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hate you, and I will work your ruin!"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am glad he has gone, said Adela, one afternoon that she was spending with her friend Alma Rosen."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am glad not to have him here any longer, for he grows more and more tiresome, and it spoils my enjoyment of everything to see him lounging about and yawning all the time."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You ought not to say that so openly, dear child, said Frau von Rosen, who happened to be in the room, and who thought it her duty to admonish the motherless girl now and then."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is sad enough when brothers and sisters do not agree perfectly, but there is no need to publish such lack of harmony to the world."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But indeed I do not care. I am perfectly willing that everybody should know it, said Adela."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is the truth, and I detest hypocrisy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No one requires hypocrisy from you, my dear, Frau von Rosen replied;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah, yes, dear Frau von Rosen, it is easy for you to speak so; you know nothing of such trials, Adela rejoined."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you had any sons, Thea and Alma would have their own opinion too of fraternal amenities."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah, Adela, I have always so longed for a brother! Alma exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "When I see Lothar Eichhof he always seems like half a brother; and how delightful it must be to have a real one!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That is because you know nothing about it, said Adela, with a wise shake of her curls."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I will tell you how my brother Hugo conducts himself. Let me speak just this once, she went on, turning to Frau von Rosen;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Adela, your father has great satisfaction in him nevertheless, Frau von Rosen observed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He is an excellent officer, and very popular with his comrades, as I know from Bernhard."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah, that indeed! she exclaimed, irritably."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You would hear very little more of his popularity if papa did not give him so much money. Walter says he gambles, and that his comrades win his money."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Walter Eichhof says that? Thea exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And how came you, Adela, to discuss such matters with Walter?"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know myself that papa has often to send him a great deal of money, and is always in a very bad humour for days afterwards, and very cross to the inspector and the steward and to me. And it is all Hugo's fault. He alone is to blame----"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hush, hush, Adela! said Frau von Rosen."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you do not choose to suppress your own sentiments with regard to your brother, it is at least your bounden duty to have nothing whatever to say of circumstances with which you have nothing to do, and which concern your father and brother only. Of such matters I must distinctly forbid you to speak here."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dear child, she said, softly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I was your mother's friend, Frau von Rosen continued, gently,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, if my mother were only living! she exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Everything at home would be so different!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have a tender and loving father, she said, softly:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, yes, he is very, very kind, she said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know he is, even when he pretends to be angry. I know, too, that he will always do what I want in the end, if I do not contradict him. He has given me leave to ride with Walter again if I will only tell him when and where we are going, and I always like to do that. And then, too, he has let me wear long dresses at last. Yes, he is the dearest old papa,--but indeed Hugo spoils him!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Remember, then, always that it is your first duty to requite your father for all the care and kindness he has lavished upon his children."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh! cried Adela,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "she added, rather ruefully,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is no need, dear, of any extraordinary occasion for testifying affection, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The greatest proof of love lies in overcoming one's self for the gratification of others. Think of this, Adela dear; you are quite old enough and sensible enough to know of yourself everything that I can tell you. Promise me to reflect upon it all. Will you try?"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Only think, said Alma Rosen,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Lothar told me that Walter wanted to be a doctor!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Walter a doctor! she exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What a delightful idea of Lothar's! Walter a doctor? It is too comical!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Only ask Thea; she knows about it too,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, it is true; Walter did get such an idea into his head, but he has given it up, and there is to be no more said upon the subject."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now I know why Walter has been so queer all through these last holidays, said Adela."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is perfectly odious in him not to tell me a word of it. I will tease him well about it to-morrow if we ride together."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you often ride together now?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, yes. That was a perfectly ridiculous idea of papa's; I soon talked him out of it. He had consented to our rides even before we went to the ball at Eichhof. There's one good to be gained from Hugo's being at home, papa is so full of business at such times that he will almost always say 'yes' just to be rid of me. I take very few lessons now with Mademoiselle Belmont, and the good soul is being gradually transformed from a governess into a companion. I got papa to tell her that she might look upon herself as rather occupying the latter position. The only thing to do is to take papa just when he happens to be in a good humour; but---- She suddenly clapped her hand upon her mouth."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There, I promised your mother that I would not speak of that. I should like to know what kind of girls we should all be if I had a mother and you had a couple of brothers."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, Bernhard soon will be my brother,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, that's very different, rejoined Adela;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "she interrupted herself, hesitating,--"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have been hearing sad tales of you, Walter, Adela began her attack,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My evil schemes?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes. Would you not, if you could, torture poor mortals, cut off their arms and legs, and heaven knows what besides that is horrible and cruel?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Since you call that cruel, you certainly must admit that I was perfectly right not to mention to you the profession at which you jeer, but which I consider the noblest that can be embraced."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Were you really in earnest, then, about being a doctor?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have found it very hard to relinquish the idea,--for the present at least. But why should we speak of all this? Rather let us admire the exquisite beauty of the afternoon, and of the woods and trees. Shall we canter?"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are very fond of that Doctor Nordstedt of whom you were telling me awhile ago, are you not?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I thought you had forgotten all that, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I certainly thought that my comrade had grown to be altogether too much of a fine lady, too much taken up with dressing and visiting, to feel any interest in what I could tell her."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, and what now, when you find that in spite of dressing and visiting I still have time to think of Dr. Nordstedt?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now I tell you that I certainly honour and love him, and that I am proud to consider myself his friend."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is his fault, then, that you want to be a doctor?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "On the contrary, it is he who is always pointing out to me all the difficulties of the profession."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Good heavens! how did you ever come to make such an acquaintance? Your sight was always good. Certainly you had no need for consulting an oculist--the man is an oculist, is he not?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes; and I never went near him on account of my eyes. But, as I told you before, he is my aunt's family physician, and it was through her that I became acquainted with him and with his family."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, yes,--his family! And of whom does this family consist?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This family consists of the father, Herr Nordstedt,--a self-made man, sprung from the people,--of his wife, and of their son, my friend. They are charming people; you ought to know them, Adela."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do they speak the Berlin _patois_ and mix up their parts of speech?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What an idea! he exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is true that Herr Nordstedt has worked hard with his hands to amass the modest competence that he now possesses, but he is too clever a man to have allowed his brain to lie idle in the mean while. His information is extensive and various, and upon every question of the day his opinions are those of the cultured class. The advantages of education of which he was deprived he has, however, taken good care that his son shall enjoy to the fullest extent. My friend is now entirely independent, pecuniarily, of his father, and takes pride in being so."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wish Hugo would take a few lessons of him, then, said Adela;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think papa has to pay more and more for him every year. But then, she added, hastily,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I really should not like him to be a doctor."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And would you dislike to have me one?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Very much,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How rude you are!"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah!"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Never a marriage here below From which a second did not grow,"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She is a perfect child, he said, after they had risen from table, to Hugo Hohenstein, who had taken Frau von Wronsky to breakfast."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A perfect child, but a pretty little puss, and _faute de mieux_----"
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I never should have given her credit for so much dignity and self-possession."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, she has a good figure and rather fine features, he said, with the oracular air of a connoisseur."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Her face is an unwritten page as yet; but time will change all that, even although it may never show such a startling romance as may be read in the Wronsky's eyes."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Was the lady very entertaining at table?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, either she is not in a good humour today, or she is playing a part; I cannot make out which, Hohenstein replied."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "At all events, she is excessively interesting. Before her marriage there was some very piquant story about her; she has had experiences. I know nothing explicit, but that woman has been through an immense deal, you may be certain."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I should like to speak with you for a moment, she said, in a low, hurried tone."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You ought at least to know that I had resolved not to inflict my presence upon you to-day; that I have done so is owing entirely to your father, who paid us a visit the day before yesterday and was so pertinacious in his request that we should be present to-day that----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is no need of this apology, madame, Bernhard replied, coldly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It would have excited remark if you had absented yourself without sufficient reason, and it is my especial desire that your conduct towards us should be such as to invite no observation."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have nothing to fear. However painful the consciousness may be, I know that you are right in not allowing me any intimacy with your wife. Believe me, I feel only too intensely and grievously the gulf that divides us. I know how hardly you judge me, and that you have a right to do so, even although I am more to be pitied than blamed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Madame, Bernhard rejoined, approaching her in some confusion,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I pray you let the past rest."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah, I wish it would rest, that I could forget! But even when I succeed in doing so for a moment, as when but now, attracted irresistibly by the grace and loveliness of your wife, I longed to approach her as any other woman might do, my past rises as an avenger, and I bow before the Nemesis; for, hard as it is to endure, I know it is not wholly undeserved."
}
]
|
35311 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You were quite right, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Forget all this, and may you be happy, very happy!"
}
]
|
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