human
Well? May I be so bold as to inquire what interest you may have in my personal affairs, Miss Webb? Frankly, I am at a loss to understand the meaning of this unexpected, and--I might say--somewhat unusual visit.
gpt
I ... I don't know as I _can_ explain, began Rose, hesitantly.
human
I ... I felt that I had to see you, because ... I had a letter yesterday from ... from Dr. MacDonald....
gpt
Ah.
human
Of course he writes to me, you _know_ that he is my guardian, she answered the interruption with a flash of spirit.
gpt
He said in it that he was coming home just as soon as he was able to ... to get well and ... be married, and then that paper.... Oh, Miss Treville, surely it isn't so. You wouldn't throw him over, when he is so far away, and ... and sick?
human
I don't see why I am called upon to explain my ... to explain anything to you, Miss Webb.
gpt
Then it _is_ true. The sentence rang out sharply.
human
And he doesn't know. He thinks that you are waiting, and ...
gpt
We need not discuss the matter, in fact I doubt if the doctor would appreciate your ... shall we say 'championage'? The matter is between him and me, wholly.
human
No, it is not, Miss Treville, flared Rose, with the angry color at last flooding her cheeks.
gpt
I have heard people say that, if that story is true, he is lucky to have escaped marrying you; but, just the same, those of us who _really_ love him--you needn't look like that, of course I love him--don't want to have him hurt, as any man would be who was cast off like an old glove while he was far away and had no chance to speak for himself. That is why I hoped it wasn't true, and that you hadn't, perhaps, killed his faith in my kind. And that is the only reason.
human
So, that is the reason, the only reason, for your coming to me with your impertinent question? Miss Treville laughed oddly.
gpt
Really! Do you know, I have always suspected that the little savage whom he brought from somewhere in the backwoods regarded him as rather more than a guardian, or a brother ... that _was_ the pretty fiction, wasn't it?