human
You want to pay a debt you think you owe, she said, in a strange, lustreless voice, turning to him at last.
gpt
Well, you have paid it. You have given me a book to read which I will keep always. And I give you a receipt in full for your debt.
human
I don't know about any book, he answered, dazedly.
gpt
I want to marry you right away.
human
I am sorry, but it is not necessary,
gpt
But I want to. It ain't a debt. That was only a way of putting it. I want to make you my wife. I got some position, and I can make the West sit up and look at you and be glad.
human
There is no reason why I should marry you--not one. You offer me marriage as a prince might give a penny to a beggar. If my mother were not an Indian woman, you would not have taken it all as a matter of course. But my father was a white man, and I am a white man's daughter, and I would rather marry an Indian, who would think me the best thing there was in the light of the sun, than marry you. Had I been pure white you would not have been so sure; you would have asked, not offered. I am not obliged to you. You ought to go to no woman as you came to me. See, the storm has stopped. You will be quite safe going back now. The snow will be deep, perhaps, but it is not far.
gpt
Say, I ain't done it right, mebbe, but I meant well, and I'd be good to you and proud of you, and I'd love you better than anything I ever saw,
human
Ah, you should have said those last words first,
gpt
I say them now.
human
They come too late; but they would have been too late in any case, she added.
gpt
Still, I am glad you said them.
human
I made a mistake, he urged, humbly.
gpt
I understand better now. I never had any schoolin'.
human
Oh, it isn't that, she answered, gently.
gpt
Good-bye.
human
You're right--it couldn't ever be, he said.
gpt
You're--you're great. And I owe you my life still!