human
You are going away, Walter?
gpt
Yes, said Ingleby.
human
In all probability I shall never come back.
gpt
You seem, she said,
human
It hurts me less than I expected it would have done. Still, even if I had been permitted, why should I wish to stay? I am poor again, and it is very likely shall always be so. There are barriers between you and me which can never be got over.
gpt
You didn't believe that once.
human
No, said Ingleby.
gpt
Still, I am wiser now, and what I may have to suffer is no more than my desert for believing that any man is warranted in trying to thrust himself above the station he was meant to occupy. That, however, isn't, after all, very much to the purpose.
human
I suppose, and there was a tremor in the girl's voice,
gpt
It is not my part to reproach you, but I know what you did. You have wrecked the life of my best friend, and turned into a traitor a man whose work and words brought hope to thousands. Sewell will never lift his head again.
human
What did he tell you, Walter?
gpt
Very little. In fact, only that he had told you the way to Westerhouse; but that was quite enough. I do not know whether you told him that you loved him or not; but it is quite plain to me that you made him think so. Men of his kind do not betray those who believe in them without a reason.
human
Walter, said the girl, very softly,
gpt
I wonder if--you--ever really loved me?
human
I do not know, he said.
gpt
You are the most beautiful woman I ever met, and I believed I did. Most likely your beauty and all that you stood for dazzled me, and I lost my head. It may have been that--I do not know--for if I had really loved you I should, perhaps, have forgiven you everything.
human
And that is too much for you?
gpt
If you had loved me, you would never have betrayed me. I am afraid it is.
human
Perhaps I wouldn't--like you, I do not know. Then she held out her hand.
gpt
Don't think too hardly of me. Good-bye, Walter.