human
I am so glad you have come, said Lady Western.
gpt
I am sure you must have hated me, and everything that recalled my name; but it was impossible for any one to be more grieved than I was, Mr. Vincent. Now, will you tell me about Rachel? She sits by herself in her own room. When I go in she gives me a look of fright which I cannot understand. Fright! Can you imagine Rachel frightened, Mr. Vincent--and of me!
human
Ah, yes. I would not venture to come into the presence of the angels if I had guilt on my hands,
gpt
Mr. Vincent! what can you mean? You alarm me very much, said the young Dowager;
human
said Lady Western, with a cloud on her beautiful face,
gpt
But I don't want to see Mrs.--Mrs. Mildmay, said Vincent, rising up.
human
I don't know why I came at all, if it were not to see the sun shining. It is dark down below where I am, said the young man, with an involuntary outburst of the passion which at that moment suddenly appeared to him in all its unreasonableness.
gpt
Forgive me. It was only a longing I had to see the light.
human
Come back soon, she said, again holding out her hand with a smile.
gpt
I am so sorry for your troubles; and if we can do anything to comfort you, come back soon again, Mr. Vincent. When the poor Nonconformist came to himself after these words, he was standing outside the garden door, out of paradise, his heart throbbing, and his pulse beating in a kind of sweet delirium. In that very moment of delight he recognised, with a thrill of exaltation and anguish, the madness of his dream. No matter. What if his heart broke after? Now, at least, he could take the consolation. But if it was hard to face Mrs. Pigeon before, it may well be supposed that it was not easy now, with all this world of passionate fancies throbbing in his brain, to turn away from his elevation, and encounter Salem and its irritated deacons. Vincent went slowly up Grange Lane, trying to make up his mind to his inevitable duty. When he was nearly opposite the house of Dr. Marjoribanks, he paused to look back. The garden door was again open, and somebody else was going into the enchanted house. Somebody else;--a tall slight figure, in a loose light-coloured dress, which he recognised instinctively with an agony of jealous rage. A minute before he had allowed to himself, in an exquisite despair, that to hope was madness; but the sight of his rival awoke other thoughts in the mind of the minister. With quick eyes he identified the companion of his midnight journey--he in whose name all Susan's wretchedness had been wrought--he whom Lady Western could trust