human
What's the matter with Svengali? He must be dead!
gpt
Ah! he's dead! I can see it in your faces. He'd got heart-disease. I'm sorry! oh, very sorry indeed! He was always very kind, poor Svengali!
human
Yes. He's dead,
gpt
And Gecko--dear little Gecko--is he dead too? I saw him last night--he warmed my hands and feet: where were we?
human
No. Gecko's not dead. But he's had to be locked up for a little while. He struck Svengali, you know. You saw it all.
gpt
I? No! I never saw it. But I _dreamt_ something like it! Gecko with a knife, and people holding him, and Svengali bleeding on the ground. That was just before Svengali's illness. He'd cut himself in the neck, you know--with a rusty nail, he told me. I wonder how!... But it was wrong of Gecko to strike him. They were such friends. Why did he?
human
Well--it was because Svengali struck you with his conductor's wand when you were rehearsing. Struck you on the fingers and made you cry! don't you remember?
gpt
Struck _me_! _rehearsing?_--made me _cry_! what _are_ you talking about, dear Taffy? Svengali never _struck_ me! he was kindness itself! always! and what should _I_ rehearse?
human
Well, the songs you were to sing at the theatre in the evening.
gpt
Sing at the theatre! _I_ never sang at any theatre--except last night, if that big place was a theatre! and they didn't seem to like it! I'll take precious good care never to sing in a theatre again! How they howled! and there was Svengali in the box opposite, laughing at me. Why was I taken there? and why did that funny little Frenchman in the white waistcoat ask me to sing? I know very well I can't sing well enough to sing in a place like that! What a fool I was! It all seems like a bad dream! What was it all about? _Was_ it a dream, I wonder!
human
Well--but don't you remember singing at Paris, in the Salle des Bashibazoucks--and at Vienna--St. Petersburg--lots of places?
gpt
What nonsense, dear--you're thinking of some one else! _I_ never sang anywhere! I've been to Vienna and St. Petersburg--but I never _sang_ there--good heavens!
human
Tell me, Trilby--what made you cut me dead when I bowed to you in the Place de la Concorde, and you were riding with Svengali in that swell carriage?
gpt
I really forget. _Were_ we in Paris? Oh yes, of course. Hôtel Bertrand, Place Notre Dame des Victoires.
human
How long have you been going about with Svengali?
gpt
Oh, months, years--I forget. I was very ill. He cured me.
human
Ill! What was the matter?
gpt
PŒNA PEDE CLAUDO