human
Oh, look at dolly, look, look!
gpt
It is strange how you succeed in putting me on the defensive, Henriette--I who have been wronged. A horrible wrong it is too. It has ruined my life. You will never know all that it implies, never, never, though I talk till Doomsday. Nobody will--except Professor Fortescue.
human
I believe you are in love with that man. _That_ is the cause of all this wild conduct.
gpt
I beg your pardon. I spoke in haste, Hadria. You have your faults, but Hubert has nothing to fear from you in that respect, I am sure.
human
Really? Hadria had come forward and was standing with her left elbow on the mantel-piece, the doll still tucked under her right arm.
gpt
And you think that I would, at all hazards, respect a legal tie which no feeling consecrates?
human
I do you that justice,
gpt
You think that I should regard myself as so completely the property of a man whom I do not love, and who actively dislikes me, as to hold my very feelings in trust for him. Disabuse yourself of that idea, Henriette. I claim rights over myself, and I will hold myself in pawn for no man. This is no news either to you or to Hubert. Why pretend that it is?
human
I can but hope, she said at length,
gpt
If you chose to regard it as a disgrace that I should make so bold as to lay claim to myself, that, it seems to me, would be your own fault.
human
Ah! you _could_ not! you _could_ not! Think of your mother and father, if you will not think of your husband and children. You terrify me!
gpt
Don't trouble, she said, more gently.
human
There is no thunderbolt about to fall in our discreet circle.