human
I got your letter, Andrew, she said,
gpt
It is very kind,
human
Not much altered here, she remarked.
gpt
It looks just as it did when I used to come to tea with you before we were married.
human
The neighbourhood is a conservative one, he replied.
gpt
Still, I must confess that I am glad I never gave the rooms up. I don't think that nature intended me to dwell in palaces.
human
Perhaps not, she agreed, a little insolently.
gpt
It is a habit of yours to think and live parochially. Now what did you want of me, please?
human
There is a scheme on foot, he began,
gpt
You don't mean to tell me, she exclaimed, with a sudden light in her eyes,
human
I used the word 'political,' he reminded her coldly.
gpt
You would not understand the situation, but its interest and my danger centres round a certain document which was stolen from my study at Martinhoe on or just before the day of my arrival from London last August.
human
How dull!
gpt
That document, he went on,
human
I had so hoped there was a lady in the case,
gpt
If you will give me your attention for one moment longer, he begged,
human
Well?
gpt
Whether you have heard anything of Palliser since his disappearance?
human
You have brought me here to answer these questions?
gpt
Pardon me, he reminded her,
human
But why should you expect that I should give you information? she demanded.
gpt
You refused to give me the thing I wanted more than anything in life and you have thrown me off like an old glove. If you are threatened with what you call political ruin, why on earth should I intervene to prevent it?
human
You take a severe and I venture to believe a prejudiced view of the situation between us, he replied.
gpt
I never promised you that I would make you a peeress. Such a thing never entered into my head. Every pledge I made to you when we were married, I kept. You cannot say the same.
human
The man's point of view, I suppose, she scoffed.
gpt
Well, I'll tell you what I know, in exchange for a little piece of information from you, which is--what do you know about Anthony Palliser's disappearance?
human
Your very question, he observed,
gpt
I have no objection to telling you, she said,
human
What happened that night was simple, Tallente explained calmly;
gpt
You bully!
human
Palliser was twenty years younger than I and of at least equal build and strength, he said.
gpt
It was not my fault that he seemed unable to defend himself.
human
But his disappearance--tell me about that?
gpt
We were within a few feet of the edge of the cliff. I struck him harder, Perhaps, than I had intended, and he went over. I stood there and hooked down, but I could see nothing. I heard the crashing of some bushes, and after that--silence. I even called out to him, but there was no reply. Some time later, Robert and I searched the cliff and the bay below for his body. We discovered nothing.
human
It was high tide that night! she cried.
gpt
You know very well that he must have been drowned!
human
I have answered your question,