human
No, I suppose you couldn't,
gpt
So that my answer has to be final.
human
I don't see that. Love is only one of the many motives for marriage--and not, as I understand it, the highest one. The divorce courts are strewn with the wrecks of marriages made for love. Those that stand the test of life and time are generally those that have been contracted from some of the more solid--and worthier--motives.
gpt
Then I don't know what they are.
human
I could explain them to you if you'd let me. As for love--if it's needed at all--I could bring enough into hotch-potch as the phrase goes, to do for two. I'm over fifty years of age. It never occurred to me that you could--care about me--as you might have cared for some one else. But as far as I can see, there's no one else. If there was, perhaps I shouldn't persist.
gpt
If there was any one else, you--would consider that as settling the question?
human
I might. I shouldn't bind myself. It would depend.
gpt
Then I'll tell you; there _is_ some one else. The words caused her to flush so painfully that she hastened to qualify them.
human
That is, there might have been.
gpt
What do you mean by--might have been?
human
I mean that, though I don't say I've ever--loved--any man, there was a man I might have loved, if it had been possible.
gpt
And why wasn't it possible?
human
I'd rather not tell you. It was a long time ago. He went away. He never came back again.
gpt
Did he say he'd come back again?
human
Were you what you would call--engaged?
gpt
Oh no. Her confusion deepened.
human
There was never anything. It was a long time ago. I only want you to understand that if I could care for any one it would be for him. And if I married you--and he came back--
gpt
Are you expecting him back?
human
Yes.
gpt
Why? What makes you think he'll come?
human
I have no reason. I think he will--that's all.
gpt
Where is he now?
human
I haven't the faintest idea.
gpt
Hasn't he ever written to you?
human
Never.
gpt
And you don't know what's become of him?
human
Not in the least.
gpt
And yet you expect him back?
human
You're waiting for him?
gpt
I am.
human
If that's all that stands between us--