human
Just now, while Susan and you were in the garden, Armand Gillier asked me if we would give up his libretto.
gpt
Give up the libretto?
human
Sell it back to him for one hundred pounds. He also said he was very poor. Do you put the two things together?
gpt
You think he fancies--
human
No. I am sure he knows he could resell it at an advance to Jacques Sennier. Those two--Mrs. Shiffney and Madame Sennier--went to Constantine with the intention of finding out what you were doing.
gpt
Absurd!
human
Is it? Just tell me! Wasn't it Mrs. Shiffney who began to talk of the libretto?
gpt
Well--
human
Of course it was! And didn't she pretend to be deeply interested in what you were doing?
gpt
And didn't she talk of how other artists had trusted her with secrets nobody else knew? And didn't she--didn't she--
human
And so you gave your libretto up to our enemy to read, and now they are trying to bribe Gillier to ruin us. Why are we here? Why did I give up everything, my whole life, my mother, my friends, our little house, everything I cared for, everything that has made my life till now? Simply for you and for your success. And then for the first woman who comes along--
gpt
That's not true or fair--what you imply! said Claude.
human
I never--Mrs. Shiffney is absolutely nothing to me--nothing!
gpt
Do you understand now that she got the libretto in order to show it to Madame Sennier?
human
Did Gillier ever say so?
gpt
Of course not! Even if he knows it, do you think it was necessary he should--to a woman!