human
I’ve been crazy to see you, he cried.
gpt
It is two days, Alice. How can I tell you how lovely you are?
human
Do you really like this rig? It is the first toilet I ever made with the thought of nobody but you in my head. So I told Annie she murmured, letting her hand rest on his coat sleeve,
gpt
Let’s go into the garden, she said as he held them.
human
I have something to say to you.
gpt
Something has happened since I saw you,
human
Has the break come?
gpt
We had a very painful scene night before last, said Alice.
human
The break has come. He has gone to town--he went yesterday morning. I have asked myself many questions since then. My father and mother are dead. I have no home to go to, and I will not live even under the same roof with him any longer. I feel so strange. I feel turned out, though there was nothing of that in what he said--indeed, I am afraid I did most of the talking.
gpt
I wish to God I had heard you!
human
It is better not. Every heart knoweth its own bitterness----
gpt
Let me help bear yours.
human
I feel homeless, I feel so alone, so ashamed--I don’t know what I don’t feel. You will never know what humiliation, what pain I have been through for two days. Robert-- her voice faltered for an instant. Then she spoke on,
gpt
I never can tell you of the sickness and shame I have long felt of even pretending to live with some one I could not respect.
human
Close the book of its recollection. I came into your life for just such a moment, to be everything you need. I am home, husband, and protection--everything.
gpt
If I could only make my senses believe my ears. She paused.
human
It seems as if I am in a dream and shall wake with a horror.
gpt
No, this is a dream come true. I foresaw this time and I have provided for it. Only delicacy has kept me from asking you before about your very personal affairs and your private purse, Alice. Understand at once, he took her hands vehemently,
human
No, I must speak. I am in a horrible position. I cannot at such a juncture receive anything from you. But there are matters to be faced. Shall I stay here? If I do, he must go. Shall I go? And if I do go, where?
gpt
Let me answer with a suggestion. My family are all devoted to us. Dolly and Imogene are good counsellors. I will lay the matter before them. After a family council we shall know just what to do and how. I have my own idea; we shall see what the others say. Dolly, you know, has taken you under her wing from the first, and Dolly you will find is a powerful protector. If I tell you what I did to-day you will gasp with astonishment. I cabled for a whole new set of photographs of the Maggiore villa. I want our first year together, Alice, to be in Italy.
human
My dear, cried Dolly, folding her impulsively in her arms,
gpt
How can I blame Robert for falling in love with you? And yet! She turned to Imogene.
human
If we had been told that first night that _this_ was the woman of our destiny! How do you bear your new honors, dearie? What! Tears! Nonsense, my child. You are freighted with the Kimberly hopes now. You are one of us. Tears are at an end. I, too, cried when I first knew of it. Come, sit down. Imogene will tell you everything.
gpt
When you first knew of it? echoed Alice.
human
Pray, when was that?
gpt
Oh, long, long ago--before ever you did, my dear. But no matter now. We talked last night, Arthur, Charles, Imogene, and Robert and I until midnight. And this is what we said: ’The dignity of your personal position is, before everything else, to be rigidly maintained.’ Mr. MacBirney will be required to do this. He will be counselled on this point--made to understand that the obligation to maintain the dignity of his wife’s position is primary. Robert, of course, objected to this. He was for allowing no one but himself to do anything----
human
I hope you clearly understand, Dolly, I should allow Mr. Kimberly to do nothing whatever at this juncture,
gpt
I understand perfectly, dear. But there are others of us, you know, friends of your own dear mother, remember. Only, aside from all of that, we considered that the situation admitted of but one arrangement. Charles will tell Nelson exactly what MacBirney is to do, and Nelson will see that it is done. The proper bankers will advise you of your credits from your husband, for the present--and they are to be very generous ones, my dear, added Dolly significantly.
human
So all that is taken care of and Mr. MacBirney will further be counselled not to come near Cedar Lodge or Second Lake until further orders. Do you understand?
gpt
Why, yes, Dolly, assented Alice perplexed,
human
My dear, it isn’t at all a question of _his_ agreeing. He will do as he is advised to do. Do you imagine he can afford breaking with the Kimberlys? A man that pursues money, dear heart, is no longer a free agent. His interests confront him at every turn. Fledgling millionaires are in no way new to us. Mercy, they pass in and out of our lives every day! A millionaire, dear, is nothing but a million meannesses and they all do exactly as they are told. Really, I am sorry for some of them. Of all unfortunates they are nowadays the worst. They are simply ground to powder between the multi-millionaires and the laboring classes. In this case, happily, it is only a matter of making one do what he ought to do, so give it no thought.