human
Why don't you come down to Cookham and get out of this heat? Miss Cavendish asked.
gpt
You need it; you look ill.
human
I'd like to, but I can't, said Carroll.
gpt
The fact is, I paid in advance for these rooms, and if I lived anywhere else I'd be losing five guineas a week on them.
human
But—five guineas—why that's nothing to you, she said. Something in the lodger's face made her pause.
gpt
You don't mean——
human
Yes, I do, said the lodger, smiling.
gpt
You see, I started in to lay siege to London without sufficient ammunition. London is a large town, and it didn't fall as quickly as I thought it would. So I am economizing. Mr. Lockhart's Coffee Rooms and I are no longer strangers.
human
Are you in earnest? she asked.
gpt
For how long?
human
Oh, for the last month, replied the lodger;
gpt
But the suppers you gave us, and this, she cried, suddenly, waving her hands over the pretty tea-things,
human
My friends, at least, said Carroll,
gpt
And the Savoy?
human
A dream of the past, said Carroll, waving his pipe through the smoke.
gpt
Gatti's? Yes, on special occasions; but for necessity, the Chancellor's, where one gets a piece of the prime roast beef of Old England, from Chicago, and potatoes for ninepence—a pot of bitter two-pence half-penny, and a penny for the waiter. It's most amusing on the whole. I am learning a little about London, and some things about myself. They are both most interesting subjects.
human
Well, I don't like it, Miss Cavendish declared, helplessly.
gpt
When I think of those suppers and the flowers, I feel—I feel like a robber.
human
Don't, begged Carroll.
gpt
I am really the most happy of men—that is, as the chap says in the play, I would be if I wasn't so damned miserable. But I owe no man a penny and I have assets—I have £80 to last me through the winter and two marvellous plays; and I love, next to yourself, the most wonderful woman God ever made. That's enough.
human
But I thought you made such a lot of money by writing?
gpt
I do—that is, I could, answered Carroll,
human
And such plays! exclaimed Marion, warmly;
gpt
She continued indignantly,
human
I can't imagine what the managers do want.
gpt
I know what they don't want,
human
I wish you wouldn't be so abject about it, she said.
gpt
If I were a man I'd make them take those plays.
human
How, asked the American,
gpt
Well, I'd keep at it until they read them, declared Marion.
human
I'd sit on their front steps all night and I'd follow them in cabs, and I'd lay in wait for them at the stage-door. I'd just make them take them.
gpt
I guess I'll give up and go home,
human
Oh, yes, do, run away before you are beaten, said Miss Cavendish, scornfully.
gpt
Why, you can't go now. Everybody will be back in town soon, and there are a lot of new plays coming on, and some of them are sure to be failures, and that's our chance. You rush in with your piece and somebody may take it sooner than close the theatre.
human
I'm thinking of closing the theatre myself, said Carroll.
gpt
What's the use of my hanging on here? he exclaimed.
human
It distresses Helen to know I am in London, feeling about her as I do—and the Lord only knows how it distresses me. And, maybe if I went away, he said, consciously,
gpt
If Helen Cabot doesn't see the difference between you and the other men she knows now, she said,
human
I doubt if she ever will. Besides,
gpt
Well, go on,
human
Well, I was only going to say, she explained,
gpt
Yes, said the American, without enthusiasm;
human
Doesn't she ever fancy that you might care for someone else? You have a lot of friends, you know.
gpt
Yes, but she knows they are just that—friends,
human
I come here very often to tea,
gpt
It's very kind of you,
human
Well, no one knows I am engaged to Reggie, continued Miss Cavendish,
gpt
Well?
human
Well? she repeated, mockingly. Carroll stared at her and laughed. After a pause he said:
gpt
It's like a plot in a comedy. But I'm afraid I'm too serious for play-acting.
human
Yes, it is serious, said Miss Cavendish. She seated herself again and regarded the American thoughtfully.
gpt
You are too good a man to be treated the way that girl is treating you, and no one knows it better than she does. She'll change in time, but just now she thinks she wants to be independent. She's in love with this picture-painting idea, and with the people she meets. It's all new to her—the fuss they make over her and the titles, and the way she is asked about. We know she can't paint. We know they only give her commissions because she's so young and pretty, and American. She amuses them, that's all. Well, that cannot last; she'll find it out. She's too clever a girl, and she is too fine a girl to be content with that long. Then—then she'll come back to you. She feels now that she has both you and the others, and she's making you wait: so wait, and be cheerful. She's worth waiting for; she's young, that's all. She'll see the difference in time. But, in the meanwhile, it would hurry matters a bit if she thought she had to choose between the new friends and you.
human
She could still keep her friends, and marry me, said Carroll;
gpt
I have told her that a hundred times. She could still paint miniatures and marry me. But she won't marry me.
human
She won't marry you because she knows she can whenever she wants to, cried Marion.
gpt
Can't you see that? But if she thought you were going to marry someone else now?
human
She would be the first to congratulate me, said Carroll. He rose and walked to the fire-place, where he leaned with his arm on the mantel. There was a photograph of Helen Cabot near his hand, and he turned this toward him and stood for some time staring at it.
gpt
My dear Marion, he said at last,
human
I've known Helen ever since she was as young as that. Every year I've loved her more, and found new things in her to care for; now I love her more than any other man ever loved any other woman.
gpt
Yes, I know, she said;
human
There's a bench in St. James's Park, he said,
gpt
She is young, I tell you, repeated Miss Cavendish,
human
I will not stoop to such tricks and pretence, Marion, he cried, impatiently.
gpt
All I have is my love for her; if I have to cheat and to trap her into caring, the whole thing would be degraded.
human
Such amateurs!