human
Tell me, Onora, did the poor fellow plead with you again to marry him?
gpt
Oh no, mamma--how could he? Neither of us could ever think of it now.
human
That was what made you cry, then?
gpt
Mamma! why should it? He was telling me about poor Mr Charteris, and I realised how little I had known him. I can say it to you, mamma--it is a privilege to feel that such a man has cared for one.
human
Then if he had lived you would have married him, my poor little one?
gpt
How can I tell, mamma? One finds out these things too late. It is always so, isn't it?
human
And the poor young man who is not dead?
gpt
He doesn't dream of that sort of thing now. We shall always be friends, but never anything more.
human
My dearest little foolish one, there are moments when I would gladly take you by the shoulders and shake you! cried Lady Cinnamond in vehement Spanish. Catching her daughter's astonished eye, she calmed herself forcibly and spoke in English.
gpt
If you had seen that poor young man's face as you left the room, as I did, Honour, you would know what nonsense you are talking. Refuse him if you must, but don't keep him in torture.
human
Dear mamma, you don't understand. Things are different now----
gpt
From what they were when I was a girl? I agree! And I prefer them as they used to be. There were your father and I, and his friends and my family trying to prevent our marriage. There were other men in the world, doubtless, but for me they simply did not exist. And we married, and people considered us very romantic. But to be romantic now, it seems, you must persist in remaining unmarried for the sake of a very worthy young man for whom you cared not a straw when he was alive!
human
I can't explain it, mamma. But one has one's feelings----
gpt
Quite so. And the poor Mr Gerrard has his also. But those you do not consider.