human
You Gerald Warburton!
gpt
It is even as I have told you,
human
It was I who Miss Bellamy sent for when she became alarmed by Kelvin's long silence. It was then, for the first time, that I heard your real history. Up to that day I had always looked upon you as my cousin. I came here under an assumed name, and I accepted the secretaryship to Sir Thomas Dudgeon, simply that I might see you and be near you, myself unknown. To see you and be near you was to love you. I determined, if it were possible to do so, to win you in the character of a poor man. Whether I have succeeded or failed, you know best.
gpt
All this seems very hard to believe, said Eleanor at last.
human
And yet, if you tell me it is true, I suppose it must be so. She sighed; and then, in a low tone of voice, as if speaking to herself, she said:
gpt
Yes; but what says his lordship in conclusion? 'We two will wed the morrow morn, and you shall still be Lady Clare.'
human
Don't forget your promise, he said.
gpt
With Heaven's help, this day month we will be man and wife!
human
Then you knew from the first that you were Gerald Warburton, the heir, and that I was--nobody?
gpt
I knew, dearest, what I have just told you. I heard it from Miss Bellamy before I first came down to Pembridge.
human
You came to me as a poor man, and stole my heart away before I knew what had happened--stole it away, perhaps, for mere amusement. But now that you have thrown off your disguise, now that I know you for the caliph himself, the amusement is at an end, and you had better give me back a poor trifle for which you can now have no possible use.
gpt
As if that poor trifle, as you call it, were not the one treasure which I hold as far more precious than aught else the world could offer me. I have won you, and I mean to keep you, so you may as well resign yourself to your fate.
human
You are not in a land of freedom.
gpt
Then resistance is useless?
human
Entirely so.
gpt
Tell me this, she said.
human
Why did you make that confession to me one day in the library? Why did you accuse yourself of having been actuated by mercenary motives?
gpt
Because I had been told of the interview between young Piper and yourself. I knew, after that, what your thoughts must be concerning me, so that, all things considered, it seemed to me the best thing I could do was to cry 'mea culpa,' even at the expense of lowering myself for a time in your estimation.
human
But rather than do that, why not have confessed everything? Why not have told me then what you have told me to-day?
gpt
Because at that time my plans were not ripe for such a confession. Because I could not then have taken you to your father.
human
My father, Gerald! she cried, as she started to her feet.
gpt
Oh! say those words again!
human
Eleanor, your father--I do not speak of your adopted father this time--is still alive--is waiting and longing to see you. I had a telegram from him only a few hours ago. See, here it is.
gpt
Everything proved. Our task is at an end. Come at once, and bring my daughter with you.
human
If I have a father, she stammered out at last,
gpt
The story that I have now to tell you, answered Gerald,