human
This comes from the new mistresses of Longueval; pray for them to- night.
gpt
You told me that you wanted to speak to me; what is it about?
human
About something, my dear godfather, which will surprise you, will grieve you--
gpt
Grieve me!
human
Yes, and which grieves me, too--I have come to bid you farewell.
gpt
Farewell! you are going away?
human
Yes, I am going away.
gpt
When?
human
To-day, in two hours.
gpt
In two hours? But, my dear boy, you were going to dine at the castle to-night.
human
I have just written to Mrs. Scott to excuse me. I am positively obliged to go.
gpt
Directly?
human
Directly.
gpt
And where are you going?
human
To Paris.
gpt
To Paris! Why this sudden determination?
human
Not so very sudden! I have thought about it for a long time.
gpt
And you have said nothing about it to me! Jean, something has happened. You are a man, and I have no longer the right to treat you as a child; but you know how much I love you; if you have vexations, troubles, why not tell them to me? I could perhaps advise you. Jean, why go to Paris?
human
I did not wish to tell you, it will give you pain; but you have the right to know. I am going to Paris to ask to be exchanged into another regiment.
gpt
Into another regiment! To leave Souvigny!
human
Yes, that is just it; I must leave Souvigny for a short time, for a little while only; but to leave Souvigny is necessary, it is what I wish above all things.
gpt
And what about me, Jean, do you not think of me? A little while! A little while! But that is all that remains to me of life, a little while. And during these last days, that I owe to the grace of God, it was my happiness, yes, Jean, my happiness, to feel you here, near me, and now you are going away! Jean, wait a little patiently, it can not be for very long now for. Wait until the good God has called me to himself, wait till I shall be gone, to meet there, at his side, your father and your mother. Do not go, Jean, do not go.
human
If you love me, I love you, too, and you know it well.
gpt
Yes, I know it.
human
I have just the same affection for you now that I had when I was quite little, when you took me to yourself, when you brought me up. My heart has not changed, will never change. But if duty--if honor--oblige me to go?
gpt
Ah, if it is duty, if it is honor, I say nothing more, Jean, that stands before all!--all!--all! I have always known you a good judge of your duty, your honor. Go, my boy, go, I ask you nothing more, I wish to know no more.
human
But I wish to tell you all, cried Jean, vanquished by his emotion,
gpt
See her! Who?
human
Bettina!
gpt
Bettina?
human
I adore her, I adore her!
gpt
Oh, my poor boy!
human
Pardon me for speaking to you of these things; but I tell you as I would have told my father.
gpt
And then, I have not been able to speak of it to any one, and it stifled me; yes, it is a madness which has seized me, which has grown upon me, little by little, against my will, for you know very-well--My God! It was here that I began to love her. You know, when she came here with her sister--with the little 'rouleaux' of francs--her hair fell down--and then the evening, the month of Mary! Then I was permitted to see her freely, familiarly, and you, yourself, spoke to me constantly of her. You praised her sweetness, her goodness. How often have you told me that there was no one in the world better than she is!
human
And I thought it, and I think it still. And no one here knows her better than I do, for it is I alone who have seen her with the poor. If you only knew how tender, and how good she is! Neither wretchedness nor suffering repulse her. But, my dear boy, I am wrong to tell you all this.
gpt
No, no, I will see her no more, I promise you; but I like to hear you speak of her.
human
In your whole life, Jean, you will never meet a better woman, nor one who has more elevated sentiments. To such a point, that one day--she had taken me with her in an open carriage, full of toys--she was taking these toys to a poor sick little girl, and when she gave them to her, to make the poor little thing laugh, to amuse her, she talked so prettily to her that I thought of you, and I said to myself, I remember it now, 'Ah, if she were poor!'
gpt
Ah! if she were poor, but she is not.
human
Oh, no! But what can you do, my poor child! If it gives you pain to see her, to live near her; above all, if it will prevent you suffering-- go, go--and yet, and yet--
gpt
And yet, Jean, do you know what I think? I have seen a great deal of Mademoiselle Bettina since she came to Longueval. Well--when I reflect-- it did not astonish me that any one should be interested in you, for it seemed so natural--but she talked always, yes, always of you.
human
Of me?
gpt
Yes, of you, and of your father and mother; she was curious to know how you lived. She begged me to explain to her what a soldier's life was, the life of a true soldier, who loved his profession, and performed his duties conscientiously.
human
It is extraordinary, since you have told me this, recollections crowd upon me, a thousand little things collect and group themselves together. They returned from Havre yesterday at three o'clock. Well! an hour after their arrival she was here. And it was of you of whom she spoke directly. She asked if you had written to me, if you had not been ill, when you would arrive, at what hour, if the regiment would pass through the village?
gpt
It is useless at this moment, my dear godfather, said Jean,