human
I wonder why Nannie is unhappy, he ruminated;
gpt
She loved her as much as she could, Mrs. Richie said;
human
Of course I wouldn't mind. Bring her along.
gpt
I wonder if you could close this house for me? she said;
human
I don't like to shut it up now and leave you without a roof over your head in case you had a chance to take a day off.
gpt
Of course I can close it, he said; and added that if he couldn't shut up a bandbox of a summer cottage he would be a pretty useless member of society.
human
I'll come down the first chance I get in the next fortnight. . . . Mother, I suppose you will see--_her?_
gpt
I suppose I shall.
human
Do you suppose she cares for him?
gpt
I don't know.
human
Until I saw her in May, he said,
gpt
I suppose I really thought--I didn't formulate it, but I suppose I thought . . .
human
What?
gpt
That somehow I would get her yet.
human
Oh, David!
gpt
Don't get agitated, Materna. That May visit cured me. I know I won't. I know she doesn't care for me. But I can't tell whether she cares for him.
human
I hope she does,
gpt
Do you expect me to agree to that?
human
David, think what you are saying!
gpt
My dear mother, have you been under the impression that I am a saint? he said, dryly.
human
If so let me correct you. I am not. Yes, until I went out there in May I always had the feeling that I would get her, somehow, some time. He paused; his knife scraped the bowl of his pipe until the fresh wood showed under the blade.
gpt
I don't know that I ever exactly admitted it to myself; but I realize now that the feeling was there.
human
You shock me very much,
gpt
I have shocked myself several times in the last few years,
human
At first--I mean when it happened; I thought she would send for me, and I would take her away from him, and then kill him. Her broken exclamation made him laugh.
gpt
Don't worry; I was terribly young in those days. I got over all that. It was only just at first; it was the everlasting human impulse. The cave-dweller had it, I suppose, when somebody stole his woman. But it's only the body that wants to kill. The mind knows better. The mind knows that life can be a lot better punishment than death. I knew he'd get his punishment and I was willing to wait for it. I thought that when she left him, his hell would be as hot as mine. I took it for granted that she would leave him. I thought there would be a divorce, and then --his voice was smothered to the breaking-point;
human
David!
gpt
Well; she didn't leave him. I suppose she couldn't forgive me. Curious, isn't it? how the mind can believe two entirely contradictory things at the same time: I realized she couldn't forgive me,--yet I still thought I would get her, somehow. Meantime, I consoled myself with the reflection that even if she hated me for having pushed her into his arms, she hated him worse. I thought that where I had been stabbed once, he would be stabbed a thousand times.