human
Where is your mother?
gpt
Mother and I have talked it all over, Kenneth. She has told me everything.
human
Oh, you poor darling!
gpt
Don't waste any sympathy on me, she retorted, coldly.
human
I don't want it. Not from Robert Gwynne's son at any rate.
gpt
I see. You don't care for the breed, is that it?
human
Kenny, she began, a solemn note in her voice,
gpt
All my life I have thought of my father as a Samson who was betrayed by a Delilah. I have never allowed myself to think of him as anything but great and strong and good. I grew to man's estate still believing him to be the victim of an evil woman. I am not in the ordinary sense a fool and yet I have been utterly without the power to reason. My eyes have been opened, Viola. I am seeing with a new vision. I have more to overlook, more to forgive in my father than you have in your mother. I speak plainly, because I hope this is to be the last time we ever touch upon the subject. You, at least, have grown up to know the enduring love of a mother. She did not leave you behind. She was not altogether heartless. That is all I can say, all I shall ever say, even to you, about my father.
human
I am still bewildered by it all, Kenny, she said.
gpt
In the wink of an eye, everything is altered. I am not Viola Gwyn. I am Minda Carter. I am not your half-sister. You seem suddenly to have gone very far away from me. It hurts me to feel that we can never be the same toward each other that we were even this morning. I had come to care for you as a brother. Now you are a stranger. I--I loved being your sister and--and treating you as if you were my brother. Now all that is over.
human
Yes, he said gently,
gpt
I bear no grudge against you, she said, meeting his gaze steadily.
human
My heart is bitter toward the man I have always looked upon as my father. But it does not contain one drop of bitterness toward you. What matters if I have walked in darkness and you in the light? We were treading the same path all the time. Now we meet and know each other for what we really are. The path is not wide enough for us to walk beside each other without our garments touching. Are we to turn back and walk the other way so that our unclean garments may not touch?
gpt
For heaven's sake, Viola, he cried in pain,
human
You must not forget that you can walk by yourself, Kenny. Your father is dead. The world is kind enough to let the dead rest in peace. But it gives no quarter to the living. My mother walks with me, Kenneth Gwynne. The world, when it knows, will throw stones at her. That means it will have to throw stones at me. She did not abandon me. I shall not abandon her. She sinned, --here her lip trembled,--
gpt
And you want to know where I stand in the matter?
human
It makes no difference, Kenny. I only want you to understand. I don't want to lose you as a friend,--I would like to have you stand up and take your share of the--
gpt
And that is just what I intend to do, he broke in.
human
We occupy strange positions, Viola. We are,--shall I say birds of a feather? This had to come. Now that it has come and you know all that I know, are we to turn against each other because of what happened when we were babies? We have done no wrong. I love you, Viola,--I began loving you before I found out you were not my half-sister. I will love you all my life. Now you know where I stand.
gpt
I must go in the house now, she said, a queer little flutter in her voice.
human
After dinner I am going down with mother to see Moll Hawk. If--if you mean all that you have just said, Kenny, why did you refuse to shake hands with me?
gpt
It is an ugly thing to look at but I am proud of it, he said.
human
I would give it for you a thousand times over.
gpt
Oh, I'm--I'm sorry I misjudged you-- she cried out. Then both of her hands closed on the unsightly member and pressed it gently, tenderly. There was that in the touch of her firm, strong fingers that sent an ecstatic shock racing into every fibre in his body.
human
I will never question that hand again, Kenny,