human
How old are you?
gpt
I shall be twenty in June.
human
That's a ripe age.
gpt
I feel as if I were a hundred.
human
You don't look it; however, that's by the way. At such a time as this, Miss Lindsay, you ought not to be alone in this great house, with all the weight upon your shoulders.
gpt
I'm not alone; Elaine is with me.
human
Yes; and she--is even older than you.
gpt
Elaine is twenty-four.
human
I don't doubt it. If you're a hundred I should say that she is a thousand.
gpt
What do you mean?
human
Nothing. But she felt that he had meant something; she wondered what. He went on.
gpt
What I intended to remark was that I think you ought to have some one with you who would give proper attention to your interests. As it is, you are practically at the mercy of a lot of servants and--and others. Hasn't your father an old friend, in whom you yourself have confidence--a business friend? By the way, who is his man of business--his lawyer?
human
If father has any friends I don't know them. He has never been very sociable with anybody about here; I can't say what old acquaintances he may have had elsewhere. As you are probably aware, he was frequently away.
gpt
Did you never go with him?
human
Never--never once. I have never been with my father anywhere out of this immediate neighbourhood, except when I first went to school, when he escorted me.
gpt
But you always knew where he was?
human
Sometimes; not always.
gpt
Had he an address in town?
human
Only his club, so far as I know.
gpt
Which was his club?
human
The Carlton.
gpt
That sounds good enough. Did you use to write to him there?
human
Not often; he only liked me to write to him when I had something of importance to say. He cared neither for reading nor for writing letters. He once told me that there were a lot of women who seemed to have nothing better to do than waste their own and other people's time by scribbling a lot of nonsense, which they cut up into lengths, sent through the post, and called letters. He hoped I should never become one of them. I remembered what he said, and never troubled him with one of the 'lengths' called letters if I could help it.
gpt
You haven't told me who his lawyer is.
human
The only lawyer I ever heard him mention was Mr. Nash.
gpt
Nash? He only employed him in little local jobs; in no sense was he his man of business; I've reasons for knowing that his opinion of Herbert Nash's legal ability is not an unduly high one.
human
He is the only lawyer I ever heard papa mention.
gpt
But, my dear Miss Lindsay, your father is a man of affairs--of wealth; he lives here at the rate of I don't know how many thousand pounds a year, and has never owed a man a penny; you must know something of his affairs.
human
All I know is that he has always given me all the money I wanted, and not seldom more than I wanted; I have never had to ask him for any; but beyond that I know nothing.
gpt
Helen, if I had to define a male criminal lunatic, I am inclined to think that I should say it was a man who brought up his women-folk in the lap of luxury without giving them the faintest inkling as to where the wherewithal to pay for that luxury came from.
human
It is at least something for women-folk, as you so gracefully describe the salt of the earth, to be brought up in the lap of luxury; please remember that, sir. And pray what prompts this last illustration of the wisdom of the modern Solomon?
gpt
That man Lindsay; you know how he's been a mystery to all the country-side; the hints which have been dropped; the guesses which have been made; the clues which the curious have followed, ending in nothing; the positive libels which have been uttered. It turns out that he's as much a mystery to his own daughter as he is to anybody else; I've just had it from her own lips. The man lies dying, leaving her in complete ignorance of everything she ought to know--at the mercy, not impossibly, of those who do know. Just as God is calling him home he wants to tell her; I can see it in his eyes, and so can she; but he is dumb. Unless a miracle is worked he'll die silent, longing to tell her what he ought to have told her years ago.