human
Annabel! God in Heaven, it is Annabel!
gpt
What have you done to yourself? he muttered.
human
You have dyed your hair and darkened your eyebrows. But you are Annabel. I should know you--in Heaven or Hell. Who is the other?
gpt
What other?
human
The Annabel who lives here, who sings every night at the 'Unusual'? They call her by your old name. Her hair and voice and figure are as yours used to be. Who is she, I say?
gpt
My sister!
human
I am a fool, he said.
gpt
All these days I have taken her for you. I have pleaded with her--no wonder that I have pleaded with her in vain. And all this time perhaps you have been waiting, expecting to hear from me. Is it so, Annabel?
human
I did not know, she faltered,
gpt
At last, he murmured,
human
No, she moaned,
gpt
You thought that I was dead, he interrupted.
human
You pushed the wheel from my hand. You jumped, and I think that you left me. Yet you knew that I was not dead. You came to see me in the hospital. You must have repented a little, or you would not have done that.
gpt
I did not come, she faltered.
human
It was my sister Anna. I had left Paris.
gpt
That is where I got confused, he said.
human
I opened my eyes, and she was bending over my bedside. Then, I thought, she has repented, all will be well. So I made haste and recovered. I came to London to look for you, and somehow the figure I saw in my dreams had got mixed up with you. Your sister! Great God, how like she is to what you were!
gpt
These are her rooms, she said.
human
Soon she will return.
gpt
The sooner the better, he answered.
human
I must explain to her. Annabel, I cannot believe it. I have found you.
gpt
No, no, she cried.
human
You frighten me!
gpt
But I am your husband, he said.
human
You have forgotten. I am your husband, though as yet your hand has scarcely lain in mine.
gpt
It was a mistake, she faltered.
human
You told me that your name was Meysey Hill. I thought that you were he.
gpt
I did it for love of you, he said.
human
I lied, as I would have committed a murder, or done any evil deed sooner than lose you. What does it matter? I am not a pauper, Annabel. I can keep you. You shall have a house out at Balham or Sydenham, and two servants. You shall have the spending of every penny of my money. Annabel, tell me that you did not wish me dead. Tell me that you are not sorry to see me again.
gpt
But I am sorry, she exclaimed.
human
Our marriage must be annulled. It was no marriage at all.
gpt
Never, he exclaimed vehemently.
human
You are mine, Annabel, and nothing shall ever make me give you up.
gpt
But it is too late, she declared.
human
You have no right to hold me to a bargain which on your side was a lie. I consented to become Mrs. Meysey Hill--never your wife.
gpt
What do you mean--by too late?
human
There is some one else whom I care for!
gpt
Tell me his name, he said,
human
he continued, moving imperceptibility a little nearer to her,
gpt
No, she cried,
human
I will not. I will have nothing to do with you. You are not my husband.
gpt
You belong to me, he said fiercely;