human
I wish to be alone, if you please,
gpt
Ah, no; ah, no, remonstrated Pence, stupidly.
human
Allow me to comfort you.
gpt
You cannot,
human
Allow me to try. I was on the point of calling at the house to----
gpt
You can call there still, Mr. Pence, and my aunt will be glad to see you. She has Mr. Vand to tea, so you will find yourself in congenial company.
human
Your company is congenial enough for me.
gpt
That is very flattering, but I prefer to be alone.
human
Let me soothe you, my dear, broken-hearted sister,
gpt
I don't want soothing. I am not broken-hearted, and I am not your sister.
human
This is very, very painful.
gpt
It is, Bella admitted readily,
human
If I had my way I would never, never leave you again.
gpt
Perhaps; but, so far as I am concerned, you will not get your way.
human
Why do you dislike me, Miss Huxham?
gpt
I neither like nor dislike you, she retorted, suppressing a violent inclination to scream, so annoying was this persecution.
human
You are nothing to me.
gpt
I want to be something. I wish you to be my sealed fountain. Your late lamented father desired you to be my spouse.
human
I am aware of that, Mr. Pence. But perhaps you will remember that I refused to marry you, the other day.
gpt
You broke my heart then.
human
Go and mend it then,
gpt
You alone can mend it. Pence dropped on his knees.
human
Oh, I implore you to mend it, my Hephzibah! You are to me a Rose of Sharon, a Lily of the Vale.
gpt
Get up, sir, and don't make a fool of yourself.
human
Oh, angel of my life, listen to me. Lately I was poor in this world's goods, but now I have gold. Marry me, and let us fly to far lands, and----
gpt
I thought you were desperately poor, said Bella, suspiciously;
human
An aged and God-fearing Christian aunt left it to me, said Pence, dropping his eyes.
gpt
It is a small sum, but----
human
One hundred pounds in gold, perhaps?
gpt
What do you mean?
human
I mean, she said, in reply to his last question,
gpt
You accuse me of----
human
I accuse you of nothing, cried Bella, cutting him short and flaming up into a royal rage.
gpt
I am tired of your company and of your silly talk. I only wish that Mr. Lister would come along and throw you into the channel.
human
I dare say you do, he said venomously,
gpt
Now it is my turn to ask you what you mean?
human
I think you had better make terms with me. Accept me as your husband, or----
gpt
Or what?
human
I shall tell the police what I saw,
gpt
What did you see?
human
On the evening of the murder I came here at a quarter to eight, said Silas slowly, his glittering eyes on her pale face.
gpt
I wished to adore the shrine wherein was my jewel; that is, I desired to gaze on the house, beneath whose roof you slept.
human
Oh, stop talking like this, and speak plainly,
gpt
I shall speak plainly enough now, said the young man calmly.
human
While watching by the entrance through the bushes, on the other side of the channel, I was suddenly brushed aside by that Lister person. It was growing dark, but I recognised his figure, his insolent face, his lordly air of prosperity. He walked up to the house and I turned away, sick at heart, knowing that he had gone to see you. When I looked again, on my way back to Marshely, he had disappeared. So you see----
gpt
I see what?
human
That the Lister person must know somewhat of this crime, if, indeed, he did not strike the blow himself.
gpt
How can you say that, when you lately intimated that Mr. Lister--if it _was_ Mr. Lister, which I doubt--had come to see me?
human
I remember the evidence given by yourself and your aunt at the inquest, retorted Pence sharply.
gpt
You were locked in your room, and were in a drugged sleep. Mrs. Coppersley had gone to my lodgings to deliver the note from your late father, which I found on my return. That Lister person must have seen your father, and, as they were not on good terms--
human
How do you know that they were not?
gpt
Because your late father hated the very name of Lister, and said that he would rather see you dead than married to him. Also in the note left at my lodgings, your father said that he had quarrelled seriously with this Lister person, and had locked you in your room. Now, if I showed that note to the police, and related how the Lister person had brushed me aside so that he could cross the channel, he would be arrested.
human
No, he would not,
gpt
Yes, he would. He hated your late father; he was alone in the house with him, and I believe that he killed him so that he might marry you.
human
As if I would marry any man who murdered my father, said Bella angrily.
gpt
You are talking a lot of nonsense, Mr. Pence. Mr. Lister was in London on that evening, and afterwards went to Paris.
human
I don't believe it. Who told you?
gpt
He told me so himself.
human
Naturally he has to make the best of things. But I know the Lister person well by sight, and I am prepared to take my oath that he entered the Manor-house about eight o'clock on the night of the murder.
gpt
Mr. Lister has a good _alibi_, said Bella, with a carelessness which she was far from feeling, and gathering up her skirts to go.
human
You can tell the police what you like, Mr. Pence. I am not afraid for Mr. Lister's good name.
gpt
You will make no terms?
human
No, she said abruptly;
gpt
I'll give you three days to think over the matter, cried Pence as she turned away;