human
Paul, she said,
gpt
And so you have heard of Mrs. Hurtle,
human
Yes;--Felix told me, and Roger evidently had heard about her.
gpt
Oh yes; Roger Carbury has heard about her from the beginning;--knows the whole history almost as well as I know it myself. I don't think your brother is as well informed.
human
Perhaps not. But--isn't it a story that--concerns me?
gpt
Certainly it so far concerns you, Hetta, that you ought to know it. And I trust you will believe that it was my intention to tell it you.
human
I will believe anything that you will tell me.
gpt
If so, I don't think that you will quarrel with me when you know all. I was engaged to marry Mrs. Hurtle.
human
Is she a widow? --He did not answer this at once.
gpt
I suppose she must be a widow if you were going to marry her.
human
Yes;--she is a widow. She was divorced.
gpt
Oh, Paul! And she is an American?
human
Yes.
gpt
And you loved her?
human
If you will allow me I will tell it you all from beginning to end.
gpt
Oh, certainly. But I suppose you loved her. If you meant to marry her you must have loved her.
human
Yes;--I loved her once; but I will tell you all. Then he did tell his story, with a repetition of which the reader need not be detained. Hetta listened with fair attention,--not interrupting very often, though when she did interrupt, the little words which she spoke were bitter enough. But she heard the story of the long journey across the American continent, of the ocean journey before the end of which Paul had promised to make this woman his wife.
gpt
Had she been divorced then? asked Hetta,--
human
Simple as the question was he could not answer it.
gpt
I could only know what she told me, he said, as he went on with his story. Then Mrs. Hurtle had gone on to Paris, and he, as soon as he reached Carbury, had revealed everything to Roger.
human
Did you give her up then? demanded Hetta with stern severity. No,--not then. He had gone back to San Francisco, and,--he had not intended to say that the engagement had been renewed, but he was forced to acknowledge that it had not been broken off. Then he had written to her on his second return to England,--and then she had appeared in London at Mrs. Pipkin's lodgings in Islington.
gpt
I can hardly tell you how terrible that was to me, he said,