human
Do you mean to say that you would have concealed this from me if you could?
gpt
I hope I should always tell the truth, sir, if I was asked, said Mrs. Goldstraw.
human
And I know it is better for _me_ that I should not have a secret of this sort weighing on my mind. But is it better for _you_? What use can it serve now--?
gpt
What use? Why, good Lord! if your story is true--
human
Should I have told it, sir, as I am now situated, if it had not been true?
gpt
I beg your pardon, said the wine-merchant.
human
You must make allowance for me. This dreadful discovery is something I can't realise even yet. We loved each other so dearly--I felt so fondly that I was her son. She died, Mrs. Goldstraw, in my arms--she died blessing me as only a mother _could_ have blessed me. And now, after all these years, to be told she was _not_ my mother! O me, O me! I don't know what I am saying! he cried, as the impulse of self-control under which he had spoken a moment since, flickered, and died out.
gpt
It was not this dreadful grief--it was something else that I had it in my mind to speak of. Yes, yes. You surprised me--you wounded me just now. You talked as if you would have hidden this from me, if you could. Don't talk in that way again. It would have been a crime to have hidden it. You mean well, I know. I don't want to distress you--you are a kind-hearted woman. But you don't remember what my position is. She left me all that I possess, in the firm persuasion that I was her son. I am not her son. I have taken the place, I have innocently got the inheritance of another man. He must be found! How do I know he is not at this moment in misery, without bread to eat? He must be found! My only hope of bearing up against the shock that has fallen on me, is the hope of doing something which _she_ would have approved. You must know more, Mrs. Goldstraw, than you have told me yet. Who was the stranger who adopted the child? You must have heard the lady's name?
human
I never heard it, sir. I have never seen her, or heard of her, since.
gpt
Did she say nothing when she took the child away? Search your memory. She must have said something.
human
Only one thing, sir, that I can remember. It was a miserably bad season, that year; and many of the children were suffering from it. When she took the baby away, the lady said to me, laughing, 'Don't be alarmed about his health. He will be brought up in a better climate than this--I am going to take him to Switzerland.'
gpt
To Switzerland? What part of Switzerland?
human
She didn't say, sir.
gpt
Only that faint clue! said Mr. Wilding.
human
And a quarter of a century has passed since the child was taken away! What am I to do?
gpt
I hope you won't take offence at my freedom, sir, said Mrs. Goldstraw;
human
You don't understand me, he said.
gpt
It's _because_ I loved her that I feel it a duty--a sacred duty--to do justice to her son. If he is a living man, I must find him: for my own sake, as well as for his. I shall break down under this dreadful trial, unless I employ myself--actively, instantly employ myself--in doing what my conscience tells me ought to be done. I must speak to my lawyer; I must set my lawyer at work before I sleep to-night. He approached a tube in the wall of the room, and called down through it to the office below.
human
Leave me for a little, Mrs. Goldstraw, he resumed;
gpt
I shall be more composed, I shall be better able to speak to you later in the day. We shall get on well--I hope we shall get on well together--in spite of what has happened. It isn't your fault; I know it isn't your fault. There! there! shake hands; and--and do the best you can in the house--I can't talk about it now.
human
Send for Mr. Bintrey, said the wine-merchant.
gpt
Say I want to see him directly.
human
Mr. Vendale,
gpt
Pray excuse me for one moment, George Vendale, said Wilding.
human
I have a word to say to Jarvis. Send for Mr. Bintrey, he repeated--
gpt
From our correspondents at Neuchatel, I think, sir. The letter has got the Swiss postmark.
human
The Swiss Postmark,