human
I do not know. Twenty-five or six, I suppose.
gpt
Did you know his mother?
human
Yes,
gpt
How long after she died were you and father married?
human
Your father had been a widower nearly two years when we were married,
gpt
Why doesn't Kenneth spell his name as we do?
human
Gwyn is the way it was spelled a great many years ago, and it is the correct way, according to your father. It was his father, I believe, who added the last two letters,--I do not know why, unless it was supposed to be more elegant.
gpt
It seems strange that he should spell it one way and his own son another,
human
Kenneth was brought up to spell it in the new-fangled way, I guess, was Rachel Gwyn's reply.
gpt
You need not ask me questions about the family, Viola. Your father never spoke of them. I am afraid he was not on good terms with them. He was a strange man. He kept things to himself. I do not recollect ever hearing him mention his first wife or his son or any other member of his family in,--well, in twenty years or more.
human
I should think you would have been a little bit curious. I know I should.
gpt
I knew all that was necessary for me to know,
human
Can't you tell me something more about father's people?
gpt
I only know that they lived in Baltimore. They never came west. Your father was about twenty years old when he left home and came to Kentucky. That is all I know, so do not ask any more questions.
human
He never acted like a backwoodsman, said Viola.
gpt
He did not talk like one or--
human
He was an educated man. He came of a good family.
gpt
And you are different from the women we used to see down the river. Goodness, I was proud of you and father. There isn't a woman in this town who--
human
I was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and lived there till I was nearly twenty, interrupted Mrs. Gwyn, calmly.
gpt
I taught school for two years after my father died. My mother did not long survive him. After her death I came west with my brother and his wife and a dozen other men and women. We lived in a settlement on the Ohio River for several years. My brother was killed by the Indians. His widow took their two small children and went back to Salem to live. I have never heard from her. We did not like each other. I was glad to have her go.
human
Where did you first meet father?