human
So that, he concluded,
gpt
And at present they are at a deadlock. She won't marry him if he has to sell his property, and so forth; and he can't marry her, and live in debt to you. Is that it?
human
That's it, madame, exactly. You've put it in a nutshell.
gpt
And what has it all got to do with me?
human
I thought perhaps you wouldn't care to live in debt to me, either.
gpt
Who? I? En voilà une idée!
human
I thought, he went on,
gpt
Fiddle-faddle! There's no sense of family honor among Americans. There can't be. You can only have family honor where, as with us, the family is the unit; whereas, with you, the unit is the individual. The American individual may have a sense of honor; but the American family is only a disintegrated mush. What you really thought was that you might get your money back.
human
If you like, madame. That's another way of putting it. If the family paid me, Miss Guion would feel quite differently--and so would Colonel Ashley.
gpt
When you say the family, she sniffed,
human
In the sense that I naturally think first of its most distinguished member. And, of course, the greater the distinction the greater must be--shall I call it the indignity?--of living under an obligation--
gpt
Am I to understand that you put up this money--that's your American term, isn't it?--that you put up this money in the expectation that I would pay you back?
human
Not exactly. I put up the money, in the first place, to save the credit of the Guion name, and with the intention, if you didn't pay me back, to do without it.
gpt
And you risked being considered over-officious.
human
There wasn't much risk about that, he smiled.
gpt
They did think me so--and do.
human
And you got every one into a fix.
gpt
Into a fix, but out of prison.
human
Hm!
gpt
And pray, what sort of a person is this Englishman to whom my niece has got herself engaged?
human
One of their very finest, he said, promptly.
gpt
As a soldier, so they say, he'll catch up one day with men like Roberts and Kitchener; and as for his private character--well, you can judge of it from the fact that he wants to strip himself of all he has so that the Guion name shall owe nothing to any one outside--
human
Then he's a fool.
gpt
From that point of view--yes. There _are_ fools of that sort, madame. But there's something more to him.
human
So that it would be what some people might call a good match.
gpt
The best sort of match. It's the kind of thing she's made for--that she'd be happy in--regiments, and uniforms, and glory, and presenting prizes, and all that.
human
Hm. I shall have nothing to do with it. She rose with dignity.
gpt
If my niece had only held out a little finger--
human
It was a case, madame, he argued, rising, too--
gpt
You know nothing about it. I'm wrong to discuss it with you at all. I'm sure I don't know why I do, except that--
human
Except that I'm an American, he suggested--
gpt
One of my own! Quelle idée! Do you like him--this Englishman?
human
Miss Guion likes him.
gpt
But you don't.
human
I haven't said so. I might like him well enough if--
gpt
If you got your money back.
human
Is she in love with him?
gpt
Oh--deep!
human
How do _you_ know? Has she told you so?
gpt
Y-es; I think I may say--she has.
human
Did you ask her?
gpt
I had to--about something.
human
You weren't proposing to her yourself, were you?
gpt
Oh no, madame--
human
You can't be in love with her, or you wouldn't be trying so hard to marry her to some one else--not unless you're a bigger fool than you look.
gpt
I hope I'm not that,
human
Well, I shall have nothing to do with it--nothing. Between my niece and me--tout est fini. She darted from him, swerving again like a bird on the wing.
gpt
I don't know you. You come here with what may be no more than a cock-and-bull story, to get inside the château.
human
I shouldn't expect you to do anything, madame, without verifying all I've told you. For the matter of that, it'll be easy enough. You've only to write to your men of business, or--which would be better still--take a trip to America for yourself.
gpt
My good man, I haven't been in America for forty years. I nearly died of it then. What it must be like now--
human
It wouldn't be so fine as this, madame, nor so picturesque. But it would be full of people who'd be fond of you, not for the sou--but for yourself.
gpt
You're taking liberties, monsieur. C'est bien américan, céla.
human
Excuse me, madame, he said, humbly.
gpt
I only mean that they _are_ fond of you--at least, I I know Miss Guion is. Two nights before I sailed I heard her almost crying for you--yes, almost crying. That's why I came. I thought I'd come and tell you. I should think it might mean something to you--over here so long--all alone--to have some one like that--such a--such a--such a wonderful young lady wanting you--in her trouble--
human
And such a wonderful young man wanting his money back. Oh, I'm not blind, monsieur. I see a great deal more than you think. I see through and through you. You fancy you're throwing dust in my eyes, and you haven't thrown a grain. Pouff! Oh, la, la! Mais, c'est fini. As for my niece--le bon Dieu l' a bien punie. For me to step in now would be to interfere with the chastisement of Providence. Le bon Dieu is always right. I'll say that for Him. Good morning. She touched a bell.
gpt
The man will show you to the door. If you like to stroll about the grounds--now that you've got in--well, you can.