human
Everything is over!
gpt
I want to call upon Miss Melmotte, if you'll let me,
human
Why should you want to see Miss Melmotte? I thought you hated the Melmottes?
gpt
I don't hate them, mamma. I certainly don't hate her. I have a message to take to her,--from Felix.
human
A message--from Felix.
gpt
It is an answer from him. She wanted to know if all that was over. Of course it is over. Whether he said so or not, it would be so. They could never be married now;--could they, mamma?
human
It is out of the question, she said.
gpt
That, like everything else with us, has been a wretched failure. You can go, if you please. Felix is under no obligation to them, and has taken nothing from them. I should much doubt whether the girl will get anybody to take her now. You can't go alone, you know,
human
Do you want my daughter? said Melmotte coming forward, and just touching his hat.
gpt
She is not living here at present.
human
Oh,--I remember now,
gpt
May I be allowed to tell her who was asking after her?
human
I am Miss Carbury,
gpt
Oh, indeed;--Miss Carbury!--the sister of Sir Felix Carbury? There was something in the tone of the man's voice which grated painfully on Hetta's ears,--but she answered the question.
human
Oh;--Sir Felix's sister! May I be permitted to ask whether--you have any business with my daughter? The story was a hard one to tell, with all the workmen around her, in the midst of the lumber, with the coarse face of the suspicious man looking down upon her; but she did tell it very simply. She had come with a message from her brother. There had been something between her brother and Miss Melmotte, and her brother had felt that it would be best that he should acknowledge that it must be all over.
gpt
I wonder whether that is true, said Melmotte, looking at her out of his great coarse eyes, with his eyebrows knit, with his hat on his head and his hands in his pockets. Hetta, not knowing how, at the moment, to repudiate the suspicion expressed, was silent.
human
Because, you know, there has been a deal of falsehood and double dealing. Sir Felix has behaved infamously; yes,--by G----, infamously. A day or two before my daughter started, he gave me a written assurance that the whole thing was over, and now he sends you here. How am I to know what you are really after?
gpt
I have come because I thought I could do some good, she said, trembling with anger and fear.
human
I was speaking to your daughter at your party.
gpt
Oh, you were there;--were you? It may be as you say, but how is one to tell? When one has been deceived like that, one is apt to be suspicious, Miss Carbury. Here was one who had spent his life in lying to the world, and who was in his very heart shocked at the atrocity of a man who had lied to him!
human
You are not plotting another journey to Liverpool;--are you? To this Hetta could make no answer. The insult was too much, but alone, unsupported, she did not know how to give him back scorn for scorn. At last he proposed to take her across to Bruton Street himself, and at his bidding she walked by his side.
gpt
May I hear what you say to her?
human
If you suspect me, Mr. Melmotte, I had better not see her at all. It is only that there may no longer be any doubt.
gpt
You can say it all before me.
human
No;--I could not do that. But I have told you, and you can say it for me. If you please, I think I will go home now.
gpt
Oh, you shall see her, he said.
human
I don't suppose she's such a fool as to try that kind of thing again. Then the door in Bruton Street was opened, and Hetta, repenting her mission, found herself almost pushed into the hall. She was bidden to follow Melmotte up-stairs, and was left alone in the drawing-room, as she thought, for a long time. Then the door was slowly opened and Marie crept into the room.
gpt
Miss Carbury, she said,
human
Mr. Melmotte has told you why I have come.
gpt
Yes;--that is, I don't know. I never believe what papa says to me. To poor Hetta such an announcement as this was horrible.
human
We are at daggers drawn. He thinks I ought to do just what he tells me, as though my very soul were not my own. I won't agree to that;--would you? Hetta had not come there to preach disobedience, but could not fail to remember at the moment that she was not disposed to obey her mother in an affair of the same kind.
gpt
What does he say, dear?
human
It must all be over, Miss Melmotte.
gpt
Is that his message, Miss Carbury? Hetta nodded her head.
human
Is that all?
gpt
What more can I say? The other night you told me to bid him send you word. And I thought he ought to do so. I gave him your message, and I have brought back the answer. My brother, you know, has no income of his own;--nothing at all.
human
But I have,
gpt
But your father--
human
It does not depend upon papa. If papa treats me badly, I can give it to my husband. I know I can. If I can venture, cannot he?
gpt
I think it is impossible.
human
Impossible! Nothing should be impossible. All the people that one hears of that are really true to their loves never find anything impossible. Does he love me, Miss Carbury? It all depends on that. That's what I want to know. She paused, but Hetta could not answer the question.
gpt
You must know about your brother. Don't you know whether he does love me? If you know I think you ought to tell me. Hetta was still silent.
human
Have you nothing to say?
gpt
Miss Melmotte--
human
Call me Marie. You said you would love me;--did you not? I don't even know what your name is.
gpt
My name is--Hetta.
human
Hetta;--that's short for something. But it's very pretty. I have no brother, no sister. And I'll tell you, though you must not tell anybody again;--I have no real mother. Madame Melmotte is not my mamma, though papa chooses that it should be thought so. All this she whispered, with rapid words, almost into Hetta's ear.
gpt
And papa is so cruel to me! He beats me sometimes. The new friend, round whom Marie still had her arm, shuddered as she heard this.
human
But I never will yield a bit for that. When he boxes and thumps me I always turn and gnash my teeth at him. Can you wonder that I want to have a friend? Can you be surprised that I should be always thinking of my lover? But,--if he doesn't love me, what am I to do then?
gpt
I don't know what I am to say,