human
Will! You've brawk un to shivers--the butivul wood pipe wi' amber that I gived 'e last birthday!
gpt
Damn my birthday--a wisht day for me 't was! I've lived tu long--tu long by all my years, an' nobody cares wan salt tear that I be roastin' in hell-fire afore my time. I caan't stand it no more--no more at all--not for you or your faither or angels in heaven or ten million babies to be born into this blasted world--not if I was faither to 'em all. I must live my life free, or else I'll go in a madhouse. Free--do 'e hear me? I've suffered enough and waited more 'n enough. Ban't months nor weeks neither--'t is a long, long lifetime. You talk o' time dragging! If you knawed--if you knawed! An' these devil-spinners allus knotting an' twisting. I could do things--I could--things man never dreamed. An' I will--for they 'm grawing and grawing, an' they'll burst my skull if I let 'em bide in it. Months ago I've sat on a fence unbeknawnst wheer men was shooting, an' whistled for death. So help me, 't is true. Me to do that! Theer 's a cur for 'e; an' yet ban't me neither, but the spinners in my head. Death 's a party easily called, mind you. A knife, or a pinch o' powder, or a drop o' deep water--they 'll bring un to your elbow in a moment. Awnly, if I done that, I'd go in company. Nobody should bide to laugh. Them as would cry might cry, but him as would laugh should come along o' me--he should, by God!
human
Will, Will! It isn't my Will talking so?
gpt
It be me, an' it ban't me. But I'm in earnest at last, an' speakin' truth. The spinners knaw, an' they 'm right. I'm sick to sheer hate o' my life; and you've helped to make me so--you and your faither likewise. This thing doan't tear your heart out of you an' grind your nerves to pulp as it should do if you was a true wife.
human
Oh, my dear, my lovey, how can 'e say or think it? You knaw what it has been to me.
gpt
I knaw you've thought all wrong 'pon it when you've thought at all. An' Miller, tu. You've prevailed wi' me to go on livin' a coward's life for countless ages o' time--me--me--creepin' on the earth wi' my tail between my legs an' knawin' I never set eyes on a man as ban't braver than myself. An' him--Grimbal--laughing, like the devil he is, to think on what my life must be!
human
I caan't be no quicker. The cheel's movin' an' bracin' itself up an' makin' ready to come in the world, ban't it? I've told 'e so fifty times. It's little longer to wait.
gpt
It's no longer. It's nearer than sleep or food or drink. It's comin' 'fore the moon sets. 'T is that or the madhouse--nothin' else. If you'd felt the fire as have been eatin' my thinking paarts o' late days you'd knaw. Ban't no use your cryin', for 't isn't love of me makes you. Rivers o' tears doan't turn me no more. I'm steel now--fust time for a month--an' while I'm steel I'll act like steel an' strike like steel. I've had shaky nights an' silly nights an' haunted nights, but my head 's clear for wance, an' I'll use it while 'tis.
human
Not to do no rash thing, Will? For Christ's sake, you won't hurt yourself or any other?
gpt
I must meet him wance for all.
human
He 'm at the council 'bout Jubilee wi' faither an' parson an' the rest.
gpt
But he'll go home arter. An' I'll have 'Yes' or 'No' to-night--I will, if I've got to shake the word out of his sawl. I ban't gwaine to be driven lunatic for him or you or any. Death's a sight better than a soft head an' a lifetime o' dirt an' drivelling an' babbling, like the brainless beasts they feed an' fatten in asylums. That's worse cruelty than any I be gwaine to suffer at human hands--to be mewed in wan of them gashly mad-holes wi' the rack an' ruins o' empty flesh grinning an' gibbering 'pon me from all the corners o' the airth. I be sane now--sane enough to knaw I'm gwaine mad fast--an' I won't suffer it another hour. It's come crying and howling upon my mind like a storm this night, an' this night I'll end it.
human
Wait at least until the morning. See him then.
gpt
Go to bed, an' doan't goad me to more waiting, if you ever loved me. Get to bed--out of my sight! I've had enough of 'e and of all human things this many days. An' that's as near madness as I'm gwaine. What I do, I do to-night.