human
Well?
gpt
Let us begin at the beginning,
human
Since this is to be the end.
gpt
Why did you answer my personal in the first place? Why did you not ignore it? I should have been left in peace.
human
An impulse of the moment, which I shall always regret.
gpt
Why did you let it go so far as to permit me to dine with you that memorable night?
human
A second impulse, equally regrettable.
gpt
And why, after all had come to an apparent end, why did you send me that mask?
human
Why?
gpt
It is unanswerable. Truthfully, I do not know.
human
Have you thought what all this might mean to me?
gpt
When I heard your voice to-night I knew that doubt was no longer in my heart.
human
Doubt?
gpt
Yes, doubt. I knew then that the inexplicable had happened.
human
I do not understand.
gpt
The inexplicable. For who will believe that it is possible for a sane man to fall in love with a voice? Had your face been scarred, as I once suspected; had you committed some crime, as I once believed, it would not matter. I am mad. He laughed angrily.
human
Yes, I love you, knowing not what you are nor caring. I have been mad for weeks, only I did not see my madness in true colors till this moment.
gpt
You are indeed mad, or, rather, your jest is.
human
Would to Heaven I were jesting! And why did you avoid me in Monte Carlo?
gpt
I did not speak to you because I wished to avoid this very moment. But since it was destined to be, let us have done. What other questions would you ask, Mr. Hillard?
human
Who is that man--the Italian with the scar--who ran after you that night?
gpt
I will not answer that.
human
Why do you say that?
gpt
I am only quoting the man with the scar. Those were the words he used in regard to you.
human
Perhaps he is right; perhaps I am not a lady, according to his lights.
gpt
Do not laugh like that! What you are or have been, or might have been to him, is nothing to me. Only one fact remains clear, and that is, I love you.
human
No, Mr. Hillard, you are only excited. You have been letting your imagination run away with you. Be sensible. Listen. You know nothing of me; you have neither my name nor my past--nothing. I may in truth be everything undesirable.
gpt
Not to me!
human
I may be a fugitive from the law.
gpt
I do not believe it.
human
There may be scars which do not show--in the heart, in the mind. I am sorry, terribly sorry. Heaven knows that I meant no harm. But it seems that fate is determined that every move I make shall become a folly, the ghost of which shall pursue me. I told you to forget me, that I had entered your life only to pass out of it immediately. Forget me!
gpt
Forget you? I would it were as easy as the asking! I say that I love you, that I shall always love you. But, he added gently, lowering his voice,
human
I have asked nothing in return.
gpt
Nothing in return?
human
No. I offer my love only that it may serve you without reward. Do you need in your trouble a man's arm, a man's heart and mind?
gpt
I need nothing; but her voice was now strangely sweet. So, she was loved by one who asked for nothing? This was not like the men she had known.
human
Do not misjudge me, Mr. Hillard. If indeed you believe that you love me--incredible as it seems to me--I am proud of the honor. But fatality forbids that I accept not only your love but your friendship.
gpt
Not even my friendship? bewildered.
human
And why not?
gpt
To answer that would only be adding to your hurt.
human
You are a strange woman. You make it very hard.
gpt
I have no alternative. The harder I make it, the better for your peace of mind. Once you are angry with me, once you are convinced that I am a hopeless puzzle, this fancy you call love will evaporate.
human
Do not believe that.
gpt
I never intended that you should see me again, and yet, against my better judgment, I have bared my face to you upon a simple request. I am not without some vanity. Men have called me beautiful. But, oh! it is a sinister beauty; it has brought good to no one, least of all to its owner. You met Mrs. Sandford in Naples. Tell me what she said.
human
Did she not earnestly warn you against me?
gpt
Yes,
human
And yet you would not heed her warning?
gpt
I have told you that I am mad.
human
I am coming to believe it. There are two of us. That dinner! And out of an innocent prank comes this! Folly, always folly! And as she remembered the piece of folly she was about to start out upon, she laughed.
gpt
Mad? Yes. Only, to your madness there is some reason; to mine, none.
human
So you sometimes recollect that night? You have not forgotten?
gpt
No. The pleasure I derived has frequently returned to my mind.
human
Ah, if only you would tell me what prevents friendship between us.
gpt
You say you love me; is that not answer enough? Love and friendship are as separate as the two poles; and you are man enough of the world to know that. I have no wish to wreck your life nor to make mine more miserable. Well, I will tell you this: there is a barrier between us--a barrier which only death can tear down or break asunder. Give up all idea, all thought of me. You will only waste your time. Come; is your love strong enough to offer a single sacrifice?
human
Not if it is to give you up.
gpt
Very well. I see, then, that I must submit to this added persecution. I can not force you.
human
So long as I live I shall go on dreaming of you. So long as you keep me in darkness as to your trouble I shall pursue you. Oh, do not worry about persecution. I shall only seek to be near you.
gpt
Good night, she said,