human
What a miserable ass you must think me, what an unmanly duffer!
gpt
Why, my friend?
human
Why, for going on in this idiotic way. I really couldn't help it. I went mad, I tell you. I've been walking up and down my room all night, till everything seemed to go round.
gpt
So have I.
human
You? What for?
gpt
The very same reason.
human
I was just as fond of Trilby as you were. Only she happened to prefer _you_.
gpt
cried Little Billee again.
human
I believe you, my boy!
gpt
In _love_ with her?
human
I believe you, my boy!
gpt
She never knew it, then!
human
Oh yes, she did.
gpt
She never told me, then!
human
Didn't she? That's like her. _I_ told _her_, at all events. I asked her to marry me.
gpt
Well--I _am_ damned! When?
human
That day we took her to Meudon, with Jeannot, and dined at the Garde Champêtre's, and she danced the cancan with Sandy.
gpt
Well--I _am_--And she _refused_ you?
human
Apparently so.
gpt
Well, I--Why on earth did she refuse you?
human
Oh, I suppose she'd already begun to fancy _you_, my friend. _Il y en a toujours un autre!_
gpt
Fancy _me_--prefer _me_--to _you_?
human
Well, yes. It _does_ seem odd--eh, old fellow? But there's no accounting for tastes, you know. She's built on such an ample scale herself, I suppose, that she likes little uns--contrast, you see. She's very maternal, I think. Besides, you're a smart little chap; and you ain't half bad; and you've got brains and talent, and lots of cheek, and all that. I'm rather a _ponderous_ kind of party.
gpt
Well--I _am_ damned!
human
Does the Laird know?
gpt
No; and I don't want him to--nor anybody else.
human
Taffy, what a regular downright old trump you are!
gpt
Glad you think so; anyhow, we're both in the same boat, and we've got to make the best of it. She's another man's wife, and probably she's very fond of him. I'm sure she ought to be, cad as he is, after all he's done for her. So there's an end of it.
human
Ah! there'll never be an end of it for _me_--never--never--oh, never, my God! She would have married me but for my mother's meddling, and that stupid old ass, my uncle. What a wife! Think of all she must have in her heart and brain, only to _sing_ like that! And, O Lord! how beautiful she is--a goddess! Oh, the brow and cheek and chin, and the way her head's put on! did you _ever_ see anything like it! Oh, if only I hadn't written and told my mother I was going to marry her! why, we should have been man and wife for five years by this time--living at Barbizon--painting away like mad! Oh, what a heavenly life! Oh, curse all officious meddling with other people's affairs! Oh! oh!...
gpt
There you go again! What's the good? and where do _I_ come in, my friend? _I_ should have been no better off, old fellow--worse than ever, I think.
human
Taffy, I can't tell you what a trump you are. All I've ever thought of you--and God knows that's enough--will be nothing to what I shall always think of you after this.
gpt
All right, old chap.
human
And now I think _I_'m all right again, for a time--and I shall cut back to bed. Good-night! Thanks more than I can ever express!
gpt
The moon made thy lips pale, beloved; The wind made thy bosom chill; The night did shed On thy dear head Its frozen dew, and thou didst lie Where the bitter breath of the naked sky Might visit thee at will.