human
Don't cry, dear Niall--don't cry! We have my father back again.
gpt
I knelt to you just now as to the head of our house, the representative of the elder branch; but I should have knelt as a penitent.
human
A penitent!
gpt
I deceived you, I caused you years of suffering! cried Niall, in a voice of overmastering agony.
human
But, oh, it was my love for you, for her, for the old place, that urged me to it!
gpt
Such faults are easily pardoned,
human
Wait till you hear! said Niall, almost sternly.
gpt
A judge must hear the offence before he can pardon. 'Twas I who wrote to you that Winifred was dead.
human
exclaimed Roderick, the most unbounded amazement depicted on his face, and for a moment something of Niall's own sternness clouding its good-humor.
gpt
Why should you have done that to me?
human
Listen! said Niall, extending one hand as if in supplication.
gpt
I heard you had remarried in America, and that was a sad blow to my hopes and dreams. You would never come back. Even if my plans succeeded, you would never dwell in the old place. And then came the agonizing thought that you would take Winifred away, and that with me our very name would pass from Wicklow. I deliberately deceived you. I withheld from Granny Meehan the letter you had written her.
human
God forgive you!
gpt
I caused your letters to the priest to miscarry; I did everything, in short, to cut you off from communication with this place. And by hints which I threw out, and vague messages which I sent through Winifred to Mrs. Meehan, I filled her mind with a fear and distrust of America and people coming from there. Oh, I remember what anguish I endured when this lady first came into this region! I could have killed her where she stood. I believed her to be the second wife herself or some emissary from you come to spy upon us and discover our secret.
human
And did you think all this of me? he asked at last--
gpt
But I had suffered, Roderick; sometimes my mind wandered, perhaps, a little, pleaded the old man, pathetically.
human
There was a confusion there; and I only knew that if Winifred went away, you were both lost to me forever.
gpt
Uncle, dear uncle, let us not talk of forgiveness, but only of your long years of devotion to us all! We will speak no more of what is painful. Now all is peace and joy.