human
Why do you treat me so?
gpt
Treat you so! she burst out.
human
Treat you so! How about the way you treat me! I showed you as plainly as I could that I didn't want you to come. What do you wish me to suppose when you come anyway? Do you wish to remind me that it is your cab, and you have a right to come?
gpt
But why? stammered poor Greg.
human
What have I done since earlier to-night. Why didn't you want me to come?
gpt
Need you ask that?
human
I must ask it. What have I done?
gpt
Nothing. Men can be very dense when they wish to be!
human
I don't understand. Unless I have offended you in some way----
gpt
Well, I can't be riding around in taxi-cabs at one o'clock in the morning with a strange man, can I?
human
Oho! said Greg, a great light breaking upon him.
gpt
But that's ridiculous!
human
Thank you,
gpt
But you rode around with me the other night later than this and thought nothing of it.
human
That was different.
gpt
And if we are engaged together in a serious affair, it _is_ ridiculous to say that we may not be alone together.
human
Oh, if you wish to be insulting now----
gpt
I think I understand,
human
What do you think you understand?
gpt
You did not tell me your whole story to-night.
human
I told you everything that bore upon the affair of my uncle and Francisco.
gpt
You did not tell me you were engaged.
human
What has that got to do with it?
gpt
You are engaged then?
human
Well--yes.
gpt
What difference does that make?
human
A great deal to me.
gpt
Do you mean that you don't care to help an engaged girl?
human
I don't mean that at all,
gpt
What do you mean then?
human
Am I no more to you than a kind of detective to be dropped as soon as this case is done with? he demanded bitterly.
gpt
Perhaps you expect to pay me for my services and let me go.
human
If you're going to be hateful I don't know what to say.
gpt
Neither do I, said Greg gloomily.
human
I guess there is nothing to be said.
gpt
Who told you I was engaged?
human
He did. The young man. I don't know his name.
gpt
Where did you ever meet him?
human
In the Meriden. After he left you day before yesterday. I followed him into the bar and managed to get into conversation with him. I was trying then to find some way of getting into communication with you. He volunteered the information about being engaged to you. It came out of the clear sky to me.
gpt
I am to understand, then, that you wish to have nothing more to do with me or my affairs.
human
Nothing of the kind, he said,
gpt
I shall go through with it to the end.
human
Why are you quarreling with me then?
gpt
I'm quarreling with you because yesterday in your letters you called me your friend; you led me to believe that I was something more to you than a useful person, yet you withheld this essential fact.
human
But you knew it all the time.
gpt
You didn't tell me. How did I know but what the man was lying?
human
He's incapable of lying!
gpt
Oh, now you're simply trying to change the issue.
human
What I can't understand is, when you said you were an American, when you said you loved America, how you could have chosen him.
gpt
That's why, she said.
human
He's an American.
gpt
What!
human
Half an American anyway. His father was an American like mine. His name is Henry Saunders.
gpt
I fancy he must take after his mother,
human
I'm sorry I can't drop this painful subject, Greg said at last,
gpt
What do you mean? He doesn't come in at all.
human
Is he on de Socotra's side?
gpt
He has nothing to do with politics.
human
I see. What does he do?
gpt
Are you trying to insult him?
human
Not at all. Merely asking for a little information.
gpt
He's very wealthy. He looks after his property and--er--he travels.
human
I see. What would your uncle have said about him?
gpt
I don't know, I'm sure.
human
But you said your uncle's ideas had very strongly affected you.
gpt
That's true. But I wouldn't let him nor anybody else choose a man for me to marry.
human
Of course not. But as the wife of Mr. Saunders do you expect to lead the kind of life your uncle recommended?
gpt
I don't admit your right to ask me any such question.
human
Easy enough to say that when the question is hard to answer,
gpt
I wish I were home!
human
Why haven't you told Mr. Saunders everything that has happened?
gpt
Because--Oh, a thousand reasons! How many more questions do you expect me to answer?
human
Is it because you think he might not be willing to help you run down the murderers of Antonio Bareda?
gpt
You have no right to suggest such a thing!
human
But you said he was rich. Naturally he belongs to the rich man's party.
gpt
He's honest and straightforward.
human
Then why haven't you told him?
gpt
I wished to spare him.
human
I'm sorry, but he must be told.
gpt
Must? I don't like your tone. Why must he?
human
I should think you'd see yourself. You and I can't be engaged on these secret matters and go around together without his being told. I must insist on his being told for my own sake.