human
Married? said Mrs. Bett with tardy apprehension.
gpt
Lulie, was your husband married?
human
Yes, Lulu said,
gpt
Mercy, said Ina.
human
Think of anything like that in our family.
gpt
Well, go on--go on! Dwight cried.
human
Tell us about it.
gpt
We were going to Oregon. First down to New Orleans and then out to California and up the coast. On this she paused and sighed.
human
Well, then at Savannah, Georgia, he said he thought I better know, first. So he told me.
gpt
Yes--well, what did he _say_?
human
Cora Waters, said Lulu.
gpt
Cora Waters. She married him down in San Diego, eighteen years ago. She went to South America with him.
human
Well, he never let us know of it, if she did,
gpt
No. She married him just before he went. Then in South America, after two years, she ran away again. That's all he knows.
human
That's a pretty story,
gpt
He says if she'd been alive, she'd been after him for a divorce. And she never has been, so he thinks she must be dead. The trouble is, Lulu said again,
human
Well, but mercy, said Ina,
gpt
It might take a long time, said Lulu simply,
human
Well, then, why didn't he say so here?
gpt
He would have. But you know how sudden everything was. He said he thought about telling us right there in the restaurant, but of course that'd been hard--wouldn't it? And then he felt so sure she was dead.
human
Why did he tell you at all, then?
gpt
Yes. Well! Why indeed?
human
I thought that, just at first, Lulu said,
gpt
Gave you your choice?
human
Yes. About going on and taking the chances. He gave me my choice when he told me, there in Savannah, Georgia.
gpt
What made him conclude, by then, that you ought to be told?
human
Why, he'd got to thinking about it,
gpt
The only thing, she said,
human
Lulu! said Ina. Ina began to cry.
gpt
You poor thing!