human
I met my brother out there in the grove,
gpt
Yes?
human
I thought maybe you and he had been discussing Barry Lapelle and me and what happened last night, so I started to give him a piece of my mind,
gpt
I can well imagine his astonishment,
human
He knew all about it, even if he did not get it from you, mother, said the girl, darkly.
gpt
Phin Striker told him everything.
human
Everybody in town will know about it before the week is out, said the mother, a touch of bitterness in her voice.
gpt
I would have given all I possess if it could have been kept from Kenneth Gwynne. Salt in an open sore, that's what it is, Viola. It smarts, oh, how it smarts.
human
That's how much I care for his opinion, one way or the other. I wouldn't let him worry me if I were you, mother. Let him think what he pleases. It's nothing to us. I guess we can get along very well without his good opinion or his good will or anything else. And I will not allow him to interfere in my affairs. I told him so in plain words out there awhile ago. He comes here and the very first thing he does is to--
gpt
He will think what he pleases, my child, broke in her mother;
human
It is all very well for you to take that attitude, mother. But I am not in the same position. He is my half-brother. It is going to be very awkward. He is nothing to you,--and people will understand if you ignore him,--but it--it isn't quite the same with me. Can't you see?
gpt
Certainly, admitted Mrs. Gwyn without hesitation.
human
You and he have a perfect right to be friendly. It would not be right for me to stand between you if you decide to--
gpt
But I do not want to be friendly with him, cried the girl, adding, with a toss of her head,--
human
What did he say to you out there?
gpt
He was abominable! Officious, sarcastic, insolent,--
human
In plain words, he gave you a good talking to,
gpt
He said some things I can never forgive.
human
About you and Barry?
gpt
Well,--not so much about me and Barry as about the way I--Oh, you needn't smile, mother. He isn't going to make any fuss about Barry. He told me in plain words that he did not care whether I married him or not,--or ran away with him, for that matter. You will not get much support from him, let me tell you. And now I have something I want to say to you. We may as well have it out now as any other time. I am going to marry Barry Lapelle.
human
I think it would be only fair of you, she began, levelly,
gpt
You have no right to insinuate that he wants to marry me for your money or your lands. He wants me for myself,--he wants me because he loves me.
human
I grant you that, said Mrs. Gwyn, nodding her head slowly,
gpt
He would be a fool not to want you--now. You are young and you are very pretty. But after he has been married a few years and you have become an old song to him, he will feel differently about money and lands. I know Mr. Lapelle and his stripe. He wants you now for yourself, but when you are thirty years old he will want you for something entirely different. At any rate, you should make it plain to him that he will get nothing but you,--absolutely nothing but you. Men of his kind do not love long. They love violently--but not long. Idle, improvident men, such as he is, are able to crowd a whole lot of love into a very short space of time. That is because they have nothing much else to do. They run through with love as they run through with money,--quickly. The man who wastes money will also waste love. And when he has wasted all his love, Barry Lapelle will still want money to waste. Be good enough to make him understand that he will never have a dollar of my money to waste,--never, my child, even though his wife were starving to death.
human
You mean--you mean you would let me starve,--your own daughter? I--why, mother, I can't believe you would be so--
gpt
I mean it,
human
Then, cried Viola, hotly,
gpt
Stop! You will not find me a cruel and inhuman mother when you come creeping back to my door after Barry Lapelle has cast you off. I am only asking you to tell him what he may expect from me. And I am trying hard to convince you of what you may expect from him. There's the end of it. I have nothing more to say.
human
But I have something more to say, cried the girl.
gpt
I shall tell him all you have said, and I shall marry him in spite of everything. I am not afraid of starving. I don't want a penny of father's money. He did not choose to give it to me; he gave half of all he possessed to his son by another woman, he ignored me, he cut me off as if I were a--
human
Be careful, my child, warned Rachel Gwyn, her eyes narrowing.
gpt
I cannot permit you to question his acts or his motives. He did what he thought was best,--and we--I mean you and I--must abide by his decision.
human
I am not questioning your husband's act, said Viola, stubbornly.
gpt
I am questioning my FATHER'S act.