human
If Roderick be still living, I shall find him one day and restore his child to him. But it must be through me that this restoration is effected; and I must at the same time offer him the means of repairing the old castle and taking up again the life of a country gentleman.
gpt
Have you any reason to think he is living?
human
Oh, I do not know! Niall answered mournfully.
gpt
For many years he sent remittances and inquired for the child, saying that he would one day claim her. Lately both money and letters have ceased. A rumor reached me--I scarcely know how--that Roderick had married a second wife. Even if that be true, he must have changed indeed if he can forget his own child. I am haunted forever by the fear that he may, after all, be dead; or that, living, he might one day claim Winifred and take her away from Ireland forever. And that I will never permit.
human
I must confess that when I heard you were here--
gpt
You fancied, perhaps, that I was the second wife?
human
What I fancied matters little! he cried, almost brusquely.
gpt
But I made up my mind that if you had come here on such a mission, you should return disappointed.
human
Now, I may as well admit, I said deliberately,
gpt
Not as the result of a preconcerted plan, I hastened to add;
human
Roderick O'Byrne,
gpt
So you do, perhaps, know Mr. Roderick O'Byrne, after all?
human
Know him? Why, yes. But as the father of Winifred--no.
gpt
And where, may I ask, have you met him?
human
In New York city.
gpt
Tell me--oh, tell me how long ago was that?
human
Within the last six months.
gpt
Then he is still alive?
human
He was when I sailed from New York,
gpt
O Roderick! he murmured;
human
Moreover, I went on,
gpt
What's that you say? he cried joyfully.
human
Living and still a widower?
gpt
Living and still a widower.
human
You are sure of that?
gpt
Quite sure.
human
You are as the dawn that heralds a bright day, as the sun that peeps from out a dark cloud, as a flower thrusting its head through the snow!
gpt
He never spoke to you of Winifred?
human
Never.
gpt
Nor of Wicklow?
human
Nor of Wicklow.
gpt
He has forgotten Ireland! cried the old man bitterly.
human
He has become Americanized, as they all do.
gpt
On the contrary, I observed.
human
I heard him speak once of Ireland, and in a way I shall never forget.
gpt
I know what you are smiling at!
human
Do you? I said, laughing outright.
gpt
Well, then, I may as well tell you I was smiling at the suspicion I saw in your eyes--smiling at the contrast between my gray hairs and wrinkles and Roderick O'Byrne as I saw him last.
human
Yet Roderick is no boy, argued Niall.
gpt
Roderick is close to forty.
human
He has the secret of perpetual youth, I said, warming at the remembrance.
gpt
Winifred has it too; she will never grow old. But now my heart is more than ever in your plans, and I should like to possess your entire confidence,--to know, for instance, how the wealth is to be obtained with which to restore the ancient castle.
human
That, said Niall, impressively,
gpt
I remember, I said;