human
Then why did you quarrel with Martinez?
gpt
Because he was interfering with a woman whom I _did_ love and _would_ fight for----
human
For God's sake, stop,
gpt
I mean I would fight for her if necessary, added the American,
human
Then you consider your love for this other woman--I presume you mean the girl at Notre-Dame?
gpt
Yes.
human
You consider your love for her a fine, pure love in contrast to the other love?
gpt
The other wasn't love at all, it was passion.
human
Yet you did more for this lady through passion, he pointed to Mrs. Wilmott,
gpt
That's not true, cried Lloyd.
human
I was a fool through passion, I've been something like a man through love. I was selfish and reckless through passion, I've been a little unselfish and halfway decent through love. I was a gambler and a pleasure seeker through passion, I've gone to work at a mean little job and stuck to it and lived on what I've earned--through love. Do you think it's easy to give up gambling? Try it! Do you think it's easy to live in a measly little room up six flights of black, smelly stairs, with no fire in winter? Anyhow, it wasn't easy for me, but I did it--through love, yes, sir, _pure_ love.
gpt
That's all very fine, he objected,
human
Yes, I knew.
gpt
Why did you do it?
human
I did it for--for what she had been to me. It meant ruin and disgrace for her and--well, if she could ask such a thing, I could grant it. It was like paying a debt, and--I paid mine.
gpt
Did you know that he had ceased to love you?
human
Yes, I knew it.
gpt
Do you know what he means by saying that you would have spoiled his life and--and all that?
human
N-not exactly.
gpt
You _do_ know! cried the American.
human
You know I had given you my life in sacred pledge, and you made a plaything of it. You told me you were unhappy, married to a man you loathed, a dull brute; but when I offered you freedom and my love, you drew back. When I begged you to leave him and become my wife, with the law's sanction, you said no, because I was poor and he was rich. You wanted a lover, but you wanted your luxury, too; and I saw that what I had thought the call of your soul was only the call of your body. Your beauty had blinded me, your eyes, your mouth, your voice, the smell of you, the taste of you, the devilish siren power of you, all these had blinded me. I saw that your talk about love was a lie. Love! What did you know about love? You wanted me, along with your ease and your pleasures, as a coarse creator of sensations, and you couldn't have me on those terms. In my madness I would have done anything for you, borne anything; I would have starved for you, toiled for you, yes, gladly; but you didn't want that kind of sacrifice. You couldn't see why I worried about money. There was plenty for us both where yours came from. God! Where yours came from! Why couldn't I leave well enough alone and enjoy an easy life in Paris, with a nicely furnished _rez de chaussée_ off the Champs Elysées, where madam could drive up in her carriage after luncheon and break the Seventh Commandment comfortably three of four afternoons a week, and be home in time to dress for dinner! That was what you wanted, he paused and searched deep into her eyes as she cowered before him,
gpt
On the whole, I think he's guilty,
human
Queer! muttered the detective.
gpt
He says he had three pairs of boots.
human
He talks too much, continued Hauteville;