human
What's to be done? she echoed.
gpt
It's a shocking business, and the man must be an arrant scoundrel. The only thing to be done is, in the first place, to request him not to return here; in the next, to sound Violet herself. Things may not have gone so far as we think, but I'm very much afraid they have. Why, latterly the girl has become quite changed, and for a week or so before he left she could hardly bear him out of her sight.
human
Yes, that'll be the best plan, I suppose,
gpt
I hope Violet will show a proper amount of sense and self-respect, concluded Mrs Selwood, in a tone which seemed to convey that the hope was but a forlorn one.
human
But remember, Chris, we must take up a firm position and stand to it. The girl is very young, and we are responsible for her until she returns home, and indeed I begin to think the sooner she does that the better, now. She is very young, as I said, but she has turned one and twenty, and there's no knowing what mad suicidal act of folly a girl of her temperament, and legally her own mistress, may be capable of under these circumstances.
gpt
It'll be a difficult thing for me to explain matters about the letter, said Selwood, ruefully.
human
The fellow is sure to scout the idea of a mistake. However, there's no help for it. I must explain, and that, too, at the earliest opportunity.