human
Oh, what is it, Constance?
gpt
Well, sir!
human
Oh, you shall know!
gpt
I will tell! You shall be spared that, at least. She has risen, and with her face still hidden in her handkerchief, seeks her father with an outstretched hand. He tenderly gathers her to his arms, and she droops a moment upon his shoulder; then, with an electrical revolt against her own weakness, she lifts her head and dries her tears with a passionate energy.
human
He--Oh, speak _for_ me!
gpt
It's a simple matter, sir; I have been telling Miss Wyatt that I love her, and offering to share with her my obscurity and poverty. I
human
Curse your poverty, sir! I'm poor myself. Well!
gpt
Oh, that's merely the beginning; I have had the indecency to do this knowing that what alone rendered me sufferable to her it was a cruel shame for me to know, and an atrocity for me to presume upon. I
human
I authorised this knowledge on your part when I spoke to your friend, and before he went away he told me all he had said to you.
gpt
Cummings?
human
Yes.
gpt
Told you that I knew whom I was like?
human
Yes.
gpt
Then I think that man will be lost for keeping his conscience _too_ clean. Cummings has invented a new sin.
human
James, James! You told me that Mr. Bartlett didn't know.
gpt
I let you think so, Margaret; I didn't know what else to do.
human
Oh, James!
gpt
Oh, papa!