human
But good is going to come out of it somehow, Helena Richie said once.
gpt
Oh, you mean 'character' and all that sort of thing, he said, sighing.
human
I tell you what it is, I'm a lot more concerned about my child's happiness than her 'character.' Elizabeth is good enough for me as she is.
gpt
; she was in Mercer most of that winter.
human
No, I won't hire the house, she told the persistent landlord;
gpt
I can't afford it; I'm only here for a few days at a time. No, you _sha'n't_ lower the rent! Robert, Robert, what shall I do to keep you from being so foolish? I wouldn't live there if you gave me the house! I want to stay at the hotel and be near Elizabeth.
human
I never knew how good you were, Mrs. Richie,
gpt
I never really understood you, dear child, Helena Richie confessed. She drew near Blair, too; she knew how he had borne the story Elizabeth told him when she came back to Mercer; she knew the recoil of anger and jealousy, then the reaction of cringing acceptance of the fact; she knew his passionate efforts, as the winter passed, to buy his way into his wife's friendship by doing everything he fancied might please her. She knew why he asked Mr. Ferguson to find a place for him in the Works, and why he induced Nannie to take the money he believed to be his, and build a hospital.
human
He is going to use the old house for it, Mrs. Richie told Mr. Ferguson;
gpt
It's the bait in the trap, Robert Ferguson said, contemptuously.
human
Well, suppose it is? Can you blame him for trying to win her?
gpt
He'll never succeed. If he was half-way honest he would have offered to let her go in the first place. If he expects any story-book business of 'duty creating love' he'll come out the small end of the horn.
human
I suppose he hopes, she admitted. But she sighed. She knew those hopes would never be realized, and she felt the pain of that poor, selfish, passionate heart until her own ached. Yes, of course he ought to 'offer to let her go.' She knew that as well as Elizabeth's uncle himself.
gpt
And he will, she said to herself. Then her face was softly illuminated by the lambent flame of some inner serenity:
human
But she won't go!
gpt
I'm certain that a divorce could be fixed up some way, Robert Ferguson said once,
human
Do you call that a hint?
gpt
Well, he didn't take it, anyway. Of course, if nothing moves him, I suppose I can shoot him?
human
You won't have to shoot him. He is very unhappy. Wait.
gpt
For a change of heart? It will never come! No, the marriage was a travesty from the beginning, and I ought to have pulled her out of it. I did suggest it to her, but she said she was going to stick it out like a man.
human
he would say to himself; six months of agonizing jealousy when he knew she did not care; of persistent, useless endeavors to touch her heart; of endless small, pathetic sacrifices; of endless small, pathetic angers and repentances.
gpt
Blair, she used to say, with wonderful patience, after one of these glimmerings of hope had arisen in him because of some careless amiability on her part,
human
I am sorry to be unkind; I wish you would get over caring about me, but all I can do _ever_ is just to be friends. No, I don't hate you. Why should I hate you? You didn't wrong me any more than I wronged you. We are just the same; two bad people. But I'm trying to be good, truly I am; and--and I'm sorry for you, Blair, dear. That's all I can say.