human
Speak to me, Pauline, and tell me what this means, he said imploringly.
gpt
Has anything befallen you? Has any one injured you? Or am I the cause of this grief?
human
O, Roddy, you cannot tell, and you will never know how wretched I am, but it is some comfort that I can speak to you at least once more.
gpt
At least once more!
human
Pauline, I entreat you, explain the meaning of all this,
gpt
It means, Roddy, that I who have never disobeyed my father, in my life, have had the weakness to disobey him this evening. I did not mean to do it. I did it unconsciously.
human
Disobeyed your father?
gpt
Yes, in seeing you again.
human
Surely, you do not mean--?
gpt
Alas! dearest, I mean that my father has forbidden me ever to meet you.
human
Really, there must be some mistake, Pauline.
gpt
Ah! I also thought it was a mistake, but, Roddy, it is only too true. These two days I have brooded over it, and these two nights. To-day, hearing that you had returned, I could endure the burden no longer. I thought of writing to you, but I had not the heart to put the terrible injunction on paper. I have wandered the whole afternoon in the hope of meeting you. I walked as in a dream, feeling indeed that I was doing wrong, but with this faint excuse for my disobedience, that, by telling you of it myself, I would spare you the terrible disgrace of being driven from my father's door, if you presented yourself there without knowing his determination. For myself such a misfortune would have been a death blow.