human
Having thus effaced myself, I resolved to expatriate myself for fear of being discovered, and that is how I come to be here.
gpt
A very infamous ruse on your part, said Ranger, who had listened with attention to all that Fellows had been relating.
human
Have you never written to let your mother know that you were alive?
gpt
No; I have always felt that that would be too risky a proceeding.
human
Well, since this must have been a great trouble to you, and a burden on your mind ever since you went wrong, what circumstance has given rise to your present anxiety?
gpt
You may well ask, since, but for what has lately arisen, I should not have sought to inflict upon you my life’s sad story.
human
Out with it then, man, and make an end of the matter!
gpt
The simple fact is, I have formed what some would consider, in my circumstances, a mad attachment to Jessie Russell.
human
No need to be ashamed of that, my boy! She’s as fine a girl, and as good a girl, as can be found anywhere this side of the Rockies!
gpt
That thought, if anything, only increases my difficulty. You see, at present she is quite ignorant as to my past; and my fear is that if I tell her what I feel she ought to know, she will be inclined to despise me, and refuse to listen to me. On the other hand, if the goodness of her heart should prompt her to overlook my past misdeeds, and to favourably consider my suit, the knowledge of my past will only serve to increase her anxiety on my account, and burden her with a load of care which silence on my part might materially lessen. I cannot make up my mind as to what to do.