human
Did you think I'd cut you out, Boney? Mighty lot you seem to know of me! It's true that for a time I thought myself necessary to her. Maybe, for a time I was. She hadn't much to live for anyway. It's true that when you didn't turn up in Arizona I left off expecting you to be faithful to yourself or to her. And so it seemed best to take what she gave and to try to make her as happy as circumstances would allow. But I never imagined that I ruled supreme. I know too well that what a woman has given once she can never give again. I didn't expect it of her. I never asked it. She gave me what she could, and I--I did the same for her. But that bargain wouldn't satisfy either of us now. No--no! We'll play the game like men--like brothers. And you must do your part. Believe me, Boney, I desire nothing so earnestly as her happiness, and if when I come to die I have helped to make this one woman happy, then I shall not have lived in vain.
gpt
Don't talk of dying! You couldn't die! And do you seriously imagine for a single instant that I could ever give her happiness?
human
I imagine so, dear fellow, since she loves you.
gpt
I tell you she wouldn't have me if I asked her.
human
You don't know. Anyway, she must have the chance. If she doesn't take it, well, she isn't the woman I imagine her to be.
gpt
She's a saint, Nap said, with vehemence.
human
And you, Luke,--you're another. You were made for each other. She would be ten million times happier with you. Why do you want her to marry a blackguard?
gpt
You are not a blackguard, Boney. I always said so. And the love of a good woman will be your salvation. No, you're wrong. I couldn't give her real happiness. There is only one man in the world can give her that. And I--am not that man. He paused; his eyelids had begun to droop, heavily.
human
Say, Nap, I believe I could sleep now,
gpt
Yes, yes, old chap, you shall. Nap raised himself abruptly, banishing his weakness in a breath; only a certain unwonted gentleness remained.
human
You shall, he said again.
gpt
Guess you won't be afraid now you have got your own way. But just one thing more. You'll be wanting all your strength for yourself for the next few weeks. Will you--for my sake if you like--put all this by till you are winning out on the other side? She would say the same, if she knew.
human
You'll play the straight game with me, Boney? he questioned.
gpt
You won't try to back out? Then, in a different tone,
human
No, don't, answer! Forgive me for asking! I know you.
gpt
I guess you do, Nap said, with the ghost of a smile,
human
I trust you, Boney, absolutely, implicitly, from the bottom of my soul.
gpt
Now let me sleep,
human
Good-night, dear chap!