human
Why do you come here? What do you require? Between us there is nothing in common. Nothing. You had best leave me.
gpt
Not yet. There is something further to be said--to be done.
human
Listen, he said.
gpt
You did not love me. I knew that well enough, I cared little enough upon that score. Yet I needed a wife; it pleased me--for a reason other than your beauty--to select you. I announced to all whom it concerned that I had done so. As for love, that had little part or parcel in the matter. There was no more love--passion is not love--in my heart for you than in yours for me. I have passed the time for loving any woman; but----
human
Why, then, she asked, gazing at him,
gpt
Because I am the bearer of a great name, a great fortune. Because I despised the members of my family--they are all intriguing harridans who formerly despised me. Because I sought a woman at once beautiful, yet lowly, who should arouse equally their envy and their hate; who should sting these women to madness with mortification. That is why I selected you.
human
You may now select another, she replied coldly.
gpt
Doubtless there are many to whom the holder of so great a name, so great a fortune, will prove acceptable.
human
I shall not select another. Meanwhile, you have flouted me, exposed me to the ridicule of the whole court--me, Desparre--of the whole of Paris! Do you think that is to be quickly forgotten, overlooked? Do you think that I, Desparre, will do either?
gpt
You must do what seems best to you, she said, still coldly.
human
Monsieur le Duc, I am not your wife. What you may choose to do is of absolute indifference to me.